Elizabeth Jackson and the Missing Prophecy
by bfalt1
Summary: (Book 2 of 5) Elizabeth Jackson has had a pretty quiet year, but all that will change as she returns for her second summer at Camp Half-Blood. Her enemy from last summer, Gaius, is becoming active again. Alex de Marco, the annoying Head Counselor from the Zeus Cabin, has been taken captive by a woman called Marina, an associate of Gaius's... (Full summary inside) COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1: I Spend Quality Time

**AN: Hello, hello! For those of you who know me, I'm back after a few weeks' break! For those of you who don't know me, hi! This is the second book in my Elizabeth Jackson series. There will be a total of five. If you want to read this story, you really should go back and read the first one. It's called Elizabeth Jackson and the Stolen Goddess. So go check that out, then come back. I mean, you don't _have_ to, but it'll be important for understanding what's going on here.**

 **Okay, so if you're still reading this Author's Note, firstly: congrats on sticking through me rambling! Just a couple of announcements real quick. I will be _trying_ to do updates every Tuesday and Friday, but I may have to alter that schedule depending on classes and homework and so forth, but I'll be sure to let you guys know should my update schedule change.**

 **Next, please ask me questions about the story! I love answering questions, and I address them in the Author's Note at the beginning of the next chapter I post. So ask away! Now, if the answer to any particular question is spoiler-y, then I'll just tell you you'll have to wait and see. But no harm in asking.**

 **Here's that full summary I promised.  
** **Full Summary** : (Book 2 of 5) Elizabeth Jackson has had a pretty quiet year, but all that will change as she returns for her second summer at Camp Half-Blood. Her enemy from last summer, Gaius, is becoming active again. Alex de Marco, the annoying Head Counselor from the Zeus Cabin, has been taken captive by a woman called Marina, an associate of Gaius's, and Augustus Grace is chosen to lead the rescue mission. Elizabeth starts having dreams about Gaius's past, courtesy of her grandmother, Athena. On top of all of it, Elizabeth also has to worry about the supposed battle that she and Gaius are fated to have. It looks like Elizabeth's second summer at camp will be even crazier than her first…

 **Alright, that pretty much sums up everything I have to say here. Enjoy the first chapter of Elizabeth Jackson and the Missing Prophecy! DFTBA!**

 **Disclaimer for story: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Heroes of Olympus, or any other associated property. I also do not own Greco-Roman Mythology, as that is in the public domain.**

 **Disclaimer for cover: Original artwork is by Viria, recolored by me.**

 **Rating: T for violence and some mild suggestive themes**

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Elizabeth Jackson and the Missing Prophecy

Chapter 1: I Spend Quality Time with Luke Castellan

My dream started off in a subway station. I'm pretty sure it was the one closest to my family's apartment building, but I wasn't entirely sure. The strange thing was the station was completely empty. Well, I say completely. There _was_ one other person there. I recognized her. The intense grey eyes gave her away. It was a trait my mother had inherited and, in turn, so had I. But why Athena was sending me a dream message, in an empty subway station, nonetheless, I didn't know. It had been almost a year since I'd spoken to my grandmother

Wait a minute? Athena? Isn't she a Greek goddess? Yes she is. See, my parents are demigods. If you didn't know that, here's the quick version: My name is Elizabeth Jackson and I am the daughter of two of the most famous demigods who ever lived. All caught up?

Anyway, I bowed to my grandmother. "My lady," I said respectfully, "to what do I owe the honor of this dream message?" I felt a twinge of annoyance, though. _Couldn't wait to talk to me until I was actually awake?_ I thought. But I didn't say anything about it. See, last summer, Athena had told me that my "fatal flaw" was impulsivity, especially impulsivity fueled by anger (or annoyance). I wanted to show her that I'd been working on controlling it, even though I actually hadn't. Whoops.

"As my granddaughter, you will understand how powerful knowledge is," Athena said. "That is why I have come tonight. My father, Zeus, has forbidden discussion of any kind on the matter that you brought to our attention last summer, but I believe that it is important for you to understand your enemy."

"You're being rebellious?" I asked, surprised. "That's pretty sick… er… cool, grandmother."

Athena raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, your enemy is becoming active once again."

So that's what this was about. "You came to warn me about Gaius?" I asked.

Last summer I had come up against a guy called Gaius. He'd kidnapped the goddess Persephone and almost started a war between Hades and Demeter. It turned out that he hadn't particularly cared about starting said war, but rather he was just interested in testing me. See, apparently he and I were fated to battle someday, but no one besides him seemed to know much, if anything, about this supposed smack-down. Even the gods seemed to be in the dark. Well, most of them. Hestia had told me something that made me think she had some idea what was coming.

Oh yeah, one last tiny detail about Gaius. He just so happened to be the son of Kronos. Thought I should mention that.

The thing was, since I'd met him last summer, he'd been mysteriously quiet, at least as far as me and my friends at Camp could tell. Nothing major had happened since Hecate disappeared at the end of last summer.

"So he's about to do something?" I asked. "That's why you're here? You found out what he's up to?"

"No, that is not something that I am at liberty to share with you."

"Not at liberty to share with me?" I asked incredulously. "Then what's the point of you interrupting my sleep if you're not going to tell me anything?!"

"Watch your tongue," Athena said calmly, but sternly.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"I can only do so much without my father realizing what I am up to," Athena explained. "Zeus has forbidden discussion about, or attention paid to, the matter of Gaius. He has never been good about learning from his mistakes. Just like the last time Kronos rose, and the last time Gaea rose, he believes that by ignoring Gaius the threat will go away. If you knew too much about what the son of Kronos is up to, then my father will know that someone told you. And as there are very few Olympians predisposed to help you right now, it would narrow down his choices dramatically."

"Zeus is being stupid," I complained.

"Calling the Lord of the Sky stupid is unwise," Athena admonished. "However, I do feel that the choices he's made in regards to this matter have not been pertinent." I remained silent. I knew I'd said too much already. I had already jeopardized any help that my grandmother was going to give me. "Now if you would allow me to get a word in edgewise, I can tell you why I am here."

"I'm sorry, once again, grandmother," I said.

Athena nodded. "After you brought the son of Kronos to our attention, I did some… digging, as you mortals would say. I was unable to recover the full story of his past, but I was able to learn quite a bit about it."

"Whoa, hang on," I said. "You found out about his past?"

"He knows a considerable amount about you," Athena replied. "It is time you learned about him and his past. If you understand his past, you can understand him."

"And then I can stop him."

"Yes, that is the hope. If what he said is true – the two of you are destined to fight someday – then learning more about him may give you the advantage you need."

"You weren't able to find out about the prophecy he claims he and I are in?" I asked, disheartened. I'd thought for sure that would be part of the whole "learning about his past" thing.

"No," Athena said with a frown. "Apollo may know, but if he does, he is being tight lipped about it. Quite unlike him…"

At that moment a train pulled up to the station. The destination readout said San Francisco. The New York City subway definitely did not go that far. I turned to Athena. "I get on the train?"

"The choice is yours," she said. "If you would like to learn about Gaius's past, or at least what I was able to discover, then board the train. From then on, you will have recurring dreams about his past until you have viewed everything I was able to uncover. Or, you could leave the station, and return to the dream you were having before."

"Dream I was having before…?" I wondered. Then I blushed as I remembered it. Augustus Grace had been in it. And for some reason he had been shirtless. I decided that I didn't want to deal with the implications of that dream. Besides, Athena was right. Learning more about Gaius could be the key to stopping him.

I boarded the train.

* * *

There was a flash of light and suddenly I was standing outside of a house that I recognized. It was Grandpa Chase's house. I was standing with a figure. I gave a start, at first thinking that I was standing next to Gaius. The young man standing next to me looked almost identical to Gaius. He had the same sandy blond hair, the same body type, everything. But there was a thin scar under his left eye, which meant that this wasn't Gaius. This was his father, Kronos. Or was it Luke Castellan? His eyes were not gold; rather, they were a very pleasant shade of blue. I wasn't really sure how the whole "Luke hosting Kronos" thing worked, but I was pretty sure that blue eyes meant that it was Luke before hosting the titan lord.

Anyway, Luke/Kronos was standing outside of Grandpa Chase's house holding up a white flag. He was unarmed. He looked exceptionally pale, and the look on his face betrayed nervousness, maybe even fear. Definitely not Kronos yet, then. Kronos would not have had that look on his face.

Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he stepped forward. He took the path all the way up to the front door and, after a moment's hesitation, knocked. A teenage girl answered the door after a few seconds. I recognized her immediately as my mom. In the dream, she looked my age: fourteen. We looked so alike, it was as if I was staring into a mirror, except for a few changes. My hair was black rather than blonde, her skin tanner than mine.

Upon seeing who had knocked, a crazy mixture of emotions chased each other across Mom's face: shock, anger, betrayal, fear, curiosity, and something else. What was that? Longing? Or something a bit stronger? I'd never considered that Mom had ever had romantic feelings for anyone other than my dad, but from the look on her face, I had no doubt that she had once loved Luke Castellan.

"Luke," Mom said, her voice strangled. "What are you doing here?" And then suddenly, there was a knife in her hands. She brandished it at him. "What are you doing here?" she repeated, more forcefully.

Luke held up his white flag. "Truce," he croaked. He sounded awful, yet his voice was remarkably like Gaius's. "I just want to talk for five minutes."

The teenaged version of my mom scowled. But there was something besides just normal anger. There was also hurt. A very deep hurt. She had _definitely_ loved Luke. "About what?"

"Please," Luke said, his voice full of fear and desperation. "Please, Annabeth. I can't – I can't do it. Kronos – he's going to use me to take over the world."

"He's already doing that," Mom said harshly.

Luke shook his head pathetically. "No, this is different. He's going to use me like a stepping stone. Kronos is going to use me to become even more powerful. Please, I can't – I can't do it. I just want to run away, like in the old days. Come with me." Luke truly did look terrified about what Kronos had planned for him. This must've happened not too long before he began hosting Kronos. He knew what was coming, but Mom didn't.

I could see a hopeful look cross her face briefly, but it vanished quickly. "How can I possibly trust you? After all the times you've lied to me? After all the betrayal?" Mom's voice broke, but she continued, her voice getting louder and louder. Tears were in her eyes, but she was holding them back. "After all the harm you've done? After you left me to hold up the sky all on my own?" She pointed to a streak of grey in her hair that I hadn't noticed initially. "Forget it, Luke. I'm not going with you."

"Annabeth –"

"Leave, Luke!"

Luke's nostrils flared, and he lost his temper. "Well you might as well fight me now, because this is the last chance you'll get! Go ahead! You've got that knife! Just go ahead a kill me! You're killing me now, anyway! Go on!"

Mom closed her eyes like she couldn't bear the sight of him. Quietly, she said, "Leave."

Luke scowled. He turned on his heel and stormed down the sidewalk. At the edge of the yard, he turned and yelled back at her, "I thought you were my friend! My last true friend! I guess I was wrong." The words hit my mom like punches. She gripped the doorframe for support. She was really crying now, but she managed to close the door.

Luke didn't even wait for the door to close all the way. He had already turned around, and began striding down the street. I looked at the doorway my mother had disappeared behind, then looked after Luke. I sighed. Already, this dream had emotionally exhausted me, but obviously there was still something important for me to see. Otherwise, the dream would have ended. I followed after Luke.

He walked aimlessly through the streets of San Francisco, muttering angrily under his breath and kicking at a stone. He'd dropped the white flag in a trash can.

I was just beginning to wonder if my legs could get sore from too much walking in a dream, when a heavenly smell (yes, I can smell in dreams) reached my nostrils. And trust me, I know heavenly. I've been on Mount Olympus. Luke obviously smelled it, too. He gripped his stomach, and his stomach growled so loudly that even I heard it. He turned towards the source of the smell. It was a café. He stood there uncertainly, made like he was going to keep going, then changed his mind, and walked inside.

Sure enough, this place was the source of the smell: it got stronger when Luke and I entered. He stood in line to place his order. Meanwhile, I felt like I was being tortured. I was in an amazing smelling café, and I couldn't order anything to eat or drink because I wasn't really there. It was so unfair.

Finally it was Luke's turn. He placed his order, and the cashier gave him a number.

Luke went and sat at one of the unoccupied tables, a sour expression on his face. After a couple of minutes, a pretty waitress came over. She had full, dark hair and sun-kissed skin. Her eyes were soft brown and inviting. When she set Luke's food in front of him, her smile was brilliant.

Then she noticed the morose look on Luke's face. "Is something wrong with your order, sir?"

Luke shook his head. "No, everything seems fine." He smiled weakly, but the waitress wasn't fooled. She could clearly tell that something was wrong with him. Now, most waitresses would have just walked away and gone on with their day without a second thought. But there was something about this woman. She didn't seem willing to just let it go. Or maybe there was something about Luke; even upset, I could tell that he had a certain magnetic charm.

"Well if something is bothering you, you should talk to someone about it," the waitress said in a bossy voice. "Everyone should have a friend to talk to."

Luke stared at her, perplexed. But then he said bitterly, "I don't have any friends."

"Well you'll just have to talk to me about whatever is bothering you, then," the waitress said matter-of-factly.

Luke's eyebrows shot up. "But you don't even know me. Why would you offer that?"

"I already told: everyone needs someone to talk to," she replied.

"So, what? You're just asking me to share my personal problems with you right now?"

"Oh no, not now," the waitress said. "I'm working right now. But I get out of work at nine this evening."

"So you just expect me to show up at nine and tell you about all of my problems?" Luke asked incredulously. Then he added, with a touch of humor, "What if you're just going to mug me or something?"

The waitress giggled. "I promise I won't mug you. But I'm pretty sure you could overpower me if I tried to, so I don't think you really have to worry. And you don't _have_ to show up. If you aren't here at nine, then I'll know you don't want to talk to me; I'll get the message. But you really should show."

She abruptly turned on her heel and began walking away. Luke looked completely bewildered. "Wait!" he called after her. "I didn't get your name!"

The waitress half turned and smiled coyly back at him. "Show up tonight and maybe you'll find out." And then she went back to work, serving other tables. Luke sat there, a blank look on his face. I had a sneaking suspicion that he would show up when the waitress got out of work, but I really didn't want to wait around with him.

No sooner had the thought occurred to me than the dream changed. Suddenly, I was outside the café. It was dark out now. Luke was leaning against the side of the building. He still looked down, but far less agitated than he had been earlier.

There was a dinging sound as the door to the café opened. The waitress walked outside, a thin jacket over her uniform. When she spotted Luke, she smiled that brilliant smile she'd given him before. "You showed up!"

Luke pushed himself off the wall and approached her. "I honestly wasn't entirely sure that I would. But you're right. I do need someone to talk to." He held out his hand. "I'm Luke."

The waitress raised an eyebrow, but shook his hand nonetheless. "Got a last name, Luke?" she inquired.

Luke shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "I really don't like my last name much. Reminds me of my mother."

The waitress frowned. "Did something happen to her?"

"Yeah," Luke said shortly, but he didn't elaborate. I had seen his mother in a dream before, and could definitely verify that "something had happened to her." She was absolutely insane, making sandwiches and burnt cookies for a son that would never come home and randomly raving about her son's fate. I recalled with a pang that in the same dream where I'd first come into contact with Ms. Castellan, I'd also seen Gaius murder her when it became evident that she didn't have the information that he'd been trying to get out of her. At the time I hadn't even realized the worst of it; Gaius had killed his own grandmother.

"Anyway," Luke said, forcing a grin, "I've been wondering all day: what's your name?"

The waitress smirked. "The mystery of it really got you, didn't it? I don't know if I should tell you. You might just bolt if I do. When the mystery is solved, what guarantee do I have that you'll stick around?"

"I swear on the River Styx that I won't just run off if you tell me your name," Luke said quickly.

The waitress laughed. "What does that mean?"

An _oops_ look flashed across Luke's face, but he recovered quickly. "It's the most serious promise someone can make where I'm from."

The waitress shrugged. "Good enough, then. My name is Erin. And unlike you, I do have a last name: Cross."

"Erin Cross?"

Erin beamed at him. "We're already off to such a great start!" Luke almost chuckled but he caught himself and stifled it. Erin seemed to notice. "It's okay to laugh, you know. You don't have to be so pouty all the time."

"If you knew what was going on with me, you'd understand why I'm like this…"

"Then tell me," Erin said. "That's the whole point of this little date." It took only a split second for Erin to realize her slip up, and she blushed furiously. "I mean, uh…"

This time, Luke really did laugh. I noticed the slightest bit of pink tinge his pale cheeks. "So it's a date, huh?"

Erin cleared her throat. "You knew what I meant. And what happened to being all pouty?"

Luke smiled wryly. "You know, for some reason, you make me feel less 'pouty.' Which is crazy, considering that I _just met you_."

"I have that effect on people," Erin said dryly. She grabbed his hand and started dragging him along. "Let's go for a walk. I always find walks are good for sharing your feelings."

* * *

My eyes opened up. I was back in my room. I flicked on my bedside lamp. It was still night. I checked the time on my phone and discovered it was after two in the morning.

I leaned back against my headboard and let out a puff of air. I turned the dream over in my head. There was a lot to unpack in there, and my conversation with Athena indicated that I would have more dreams in a similar vein. I wanted to figure out that one before I had another, but it would take time to sift through all of the new information that I had. One thing from the dream was completely clear, though. After all, why bother showing me Luke meeting Erin Cross if she wasn't important? And I had a very distinct feeling that I knew what was important about her. I had just met Gaius's mother.

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 **AN: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, and I'll see you guys again on Friday with Chapter 2!**


	2. Chapter 2: Son of Hades Gives Me Dirt

**AN: Hey guys! I'm sorry I'm a day late with this chapter, something came up last night and I wasn't able to finish editing it to post it. To be honest, I think I'm going to permanently switch to Tuesday + Saturday uploads, rather than Tuesday + Friday. With classes and whatnot, Saturdays will just be easier for me. ANYWAY, here is chapter 2. I'm glad that you guys seemed to enjoy the first chapter. Remember, as always, leave any questions you might have and I'll address them next time.**

 **Alright, that's enough from me. Here's chapter 2. DFTBA!**

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Chapter 2: The Son of Hades Gives Me the Dirt

The knock on my door came an hour later. I was still awake from my dream, having been unable to fall back asleep. I had docked my phone in the stereo I had on my bedside table and was listening to my music. Music always helped me think, and I had a lot to think about. I was also absentmindedly reading Plato's _Republic_ in the original Greek. As I was going back to camp in the morning, I thought it important to brush up on my Ancient Greek; unlike demigods who had a natural sense of either Greek or Latin (or both sometimes, like with my father), I did not. But I just kept rereading the same page over and over, not taking in anything while my brain moved at the speed of sound, processing the new information I had.

And then the knock arrived. "Shit," I mumbled. I assumed that it was one of my parents, come to chastise me for playing my music too loudly. I silenced the music and said, "Yes?"

"It's me," my brother's muffled voice came from behind the door. "Can I come in?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't in trouble after all. "Yeah, come in."

The door opened and Matt walked in. As much as I looked like our mom, he looked like Dad. Like me, the only difference was his hair color. He had blond hair, rather than Dad's black. Normally, Matt's hair was sort of long and unmanageable, but only a day ago he'd gotten his hair cut very short.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"Nope," I admitted. "You?"

He shook his head as he came in the door and shut it behind him. I pressed play on my music as Matt sat down on the edge of my bed. "I got up to use the bathroom," he said, "and I saw the lamplight under your door. I've been awake for hours, thinking."

"What about?" I asked, unable to mask the concerned-older-sister quality in my voice.

"Camp."

"Oh."

Matt sighed. "It's just so weird. For the first time ever, you and I aren't… you know."

I did. This was the year where Matt got to go to camp. Like me, he'd been given the choice between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood. He'd decided he wanted to go to Camp Jupiter. I had fully expected him to join me at Camp Half-Blood. We were very close, after all. So when he had announced his decision to go to Camp Jupiter, I had been taken completely by surprise. And unlike Camp Half-Blood, where you had the choice between being a year-rounder or a summer camper, Camp Jupiter was always year round. I would be seeing my brother a lot less from now on, and that made me sad. Sure, the two camps visited each other, and he'd probably come home for holidays, like my friend Sierra Grace, but it just wasn't the same. The longest he and I had been apart was when I'd been at camp last summer, and that was only a couple of months. Matt was going to be at Camp Jupiter for the better part of the next ten years.

Matt was obviously thinking along the same lines as me, because he said, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you, too, little bro," I said. "What time are you leaving in the morning?"

"Dad and I are leaving at seven," he said. "I wish we could just take a plane. That would be so much better than a super long road trip. Stupid Zeus…"

I thought I heard thunder rumble off in the distance, but that might've been my imagination. "You've got everything packed?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "Jeez, you're worse than Mom."

"Do you?"

"Yes," Matt insisted.

"It was a valid question," I said defensively. "You're not exactly the king of organization." That was a bit of an understatement. Matt was notoriously unorganized and messy. In his room, he left his clothes strewn all about the floor without regard for his dresser or clothes hamper. It made me wonder how he was possibly going to make it at Camp Jupiter. I was pretty sure, as Romans, they'd be pretty stringent on cleanliness and organization.

"Why did you decide to go to Camp Jupiter?" I asked suddenly. It had been a question I'd had since he'd told us he wanted to go to Camp Jupiter on his birthday back in February but that I'd never managed to bring up with him.

Matt looked thoughtful at that. When he answered, he did so slowly. "Mom and Dad are, without question, the two greatest heroes of the last thousand years. In the demigod world, it's impossible to escape their reputation. And I'm not necessarily complaining so much about that, but… you know, it's a lot to live up to. Especially at Camp Half-Blood. And then last summer you went on a quest and saved a goddess. Not many people can say that they've done that. And I am so proud of you. But still… it adds even more to the expectations I'd face at Camp Half-Blood."

"So you want to escape those expectations?"

Matt shook his head. "Not really. I mean, there's no way to escape Mom and Dad's reputations. But the thing is… At Camp Half-Blood, they really put more focus on being individual heroes. At Camp Jupiter, it's more about being part of a cohesive unit. I won't have to prove myself as an individual; I just have to be part of the team."

I was silent for a few moments. It made sense, but it still hurt a little bit to know that I was part of the reason (sort of) that my brother didn't want to come to Camp Half-Blood. I tried to cover it up with a joke. "And Sierra being at Camp Jupiter doesn't hurt."

Matt blushed. It was a poorly-kept secret that my brother had a crush on Sierra Grace. "Oh, shut up," he said. "Forget what I said about missing you."

I held my hand up to my heart in mock hurt. "Ouch. That got me right here. Right in the feels."

Matt laughed and gave me a shove. We both laughed for a few minutes, but eventually lapsed back into silence. Then, Matt asked the question I'd been worried he'd bring up, "So why are you up?"

I bit my lip. Only a select few people knew the truth about Gaius. Chiron; the Oracle, Gwendolyn; my parents; my friends, Theo and Jocelyn; Sierra; my cabin mates, Katherine and Mike; but not my brother. While I was a firm believer that people needed to know the truth in order to make informed decisions, Chiron had convinced me to keep the truth about Gaius secret. If people knew there was a son of Kronos plotting dangerous things, he'd argued, it would cause panic, and would impede efforts to make sure everyone was well-trained.

Kronos was the worst villain in Greek mythology. Sure, the gods may have face more challenging, more objectively terrifying, enemies – Gaea, the giants, Typhon for a few examples – but none loomed as large in the imagination as the father of the gods. The Lord of Time was the gods' true archenemy – the Joker to their Batman, if you will. During the Second Titan War, he'd come disturbingly close to destroying Olympus. There weren't any campers from that time period still at camp, but the memory of that war and how close the gods had come to destruction were still very salient.

But Kronos was gone. When my parents defeated him, his consciousness was spread so thinly that another comeback was inconceivable. I might have met the largest remnant of his consciousness last summer (I say might because it may or may not have been an illusion), and I could confirm that he had nothing but words anymore. Even so, he'd managed to thoroughly terrify me.

And the idea that he had a son was a possibility so terrifying that it would likely cause mass panic if it became widely known. Chiron's argument had made sense, and so, for now at least, I was keeping tight lipped about the truth, even with my brother. There was no sense in making everyone lose their heads. Gaius had been very quiet the last year, after all. And while that was about to change, it was still pertinent to play things close to the chest for now.

"Bad dream," I finally said to Matt by way of answering why I was up after three in the morning. "Couldn't get back to sleep." Which wasn't technically a lie.

"What was your dream about?" he asked.

"Don't remember," I lied.

Matt looked at me curiously. Usually, I had a very good memory. True, I'd blanked on the identity of Luke Castellan for a few weeks last year (for which I suspected foul play somehow), but other than that, I had a pretty good track record.

"There it is again," Matt said. "I can see it in your face. You've been hiding something from me all year."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Because I know you," Matt answered impatiently, which was pretty much the exact response Sierra had given me to the same question last summer. I guess that was the disadvantage of being so close with my brother: he knew me too well. Keeping a secret from him was a Sisyphean task.

I had been worried about keeping this secret from him. He was scary good at reading me, I knew that. I had almost told him a few times, but each time I held back. And I decided to hold back this time, too.

"Please," I said, "drop it Matt. You're right, okay? I've been keeping a secret from you. But not just from you. I've been keeping this secret from almost everyone. I have very good reason for keeping this thing a secret. And you know how much I hate it when people withhold important information. I wouldn't be keeping this secret if it wasn't so important to do so."

Matt didn't look very happy with my answer. I tried to placate him, but what I ended up saying to do so probably didn't help: "If it comes to it, I will tell you the secret. But, gods' willing, things won't come to that. It'll be really bad if it gets to that point."

Matt stood up suddenly. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed."

"Matt –"

"Goodnight, Elizabeth," he said shortly. "Have fun at camp."

He almost slammed my door behind him. He probably would have if he wasn't worried about waking our parents.

"Great job, Elizabeth," I muttered to myself. "Last time you're going to see your brother in weeks, maybe months, and you manage to piss him off." Moody now myself, I switched off my lamp, turned off my music, and tried to sleep. I lay awake for hours.

* * *

The car ride to camp the next day was pretty quiet. It was just me and Mom. I was still in a bad mood from my conversation with Matt, not to mention still processing my dream. And I was exhausted; I'd barely slept last night.

After a while, Mom broke the silence. "Alright, something's up. What's wrong?"

I blew my bangs off my forehead. Matt and I had an argument last night. He's figured out that I'm keeping a secret from him. You know, the Gaius thing. He doesn't like it."

"When was this?"

"A bit after three," I said. There wasn't any point lying. "I had woken up from a dream and couldn't get back to sleep."

Mom nodded slowly. "And you're upset because you and your brother left things on a poor note?"

I nodded.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, honey," Mom said. "You know how quickly your brother's mood can change. He's probably forgotten all about being mad already."

"Yeah, but that's not the point," I said. "I mean, who knows when we'll see each other again? And the last thing we have between us until then is an argument. And I'm not just worried about that either," I went on, "there's the dream I had too."

"And what did you dream about?"

"Well Athena visited me in my sleep," I explained. I told Mom about my dream. As I talked she seemed to get weary. I'd never thought of either of my parents particularly old. They were both going on forty-two now, but they had a sort of timeless quality to them. They hardly looked any different than the pictures they had from when they were newlyweds. I'd always liked that about them.

But as I told Mom about seeing Luke visit her house all those years ago, she seemed to age before my eyes. I could almost see the streak of grey she'd pointed to when Luke had visited.

Mom sighed unhappily. "For a long time, I blamed myself for the Second Titan War."

"What?" I asked, surprised. "Why?"

"When Luke came to visit me that day, I could've stopped the war," she explained. "At least, that's how I felt at the time. I second guessed myself. I thought if I'd gone with him, I could've changed his mind. Maybe I could have made him good again. Or I had my knife. I could have killed him. He was unarmed."

"That wouldn't have been right," I said.

"I know. Your father said the same thing. And I have forgiven myself since then. Ultimately, I couldn't have stopped the war that day. And anyway, my fate wasn't with Luke. It was with your father."

Before I could stop myself, I asked, "Did you love Luke?" Then I mentally face palmed. What a stupid question to ask. Mom already looked upset. Asking her that was probably just going to make her more upset. And she probably wasn't going to answer anyway.

Mom sighed. And then, to my surprise, she answered. "I thought I did. For a long time I was convinced that I had feelings for Luke, which made it really confusing when I started falling for your dad. And then it looked like he was going to end up dating Rachel for a while –"

"Wait," I said. "Hold up. Dad almost dated Rachel? Like Rachel Dare the old Oracle?"

"Well she wasn't Oracle at the time, but yeah," Mom said. "And so that made my already complicated feelings about him and Luke even more complicated. But eventually I realized that I didn't love Luke, at least not romantically."

I whistled lowly. "Sounds like you had a pretty complicated love life when you were younger."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Aphrodite decided that she wanted to 'make things interesting' for me and your dad."

I snorted, then contemplated telling Mom about the second part of my dream; the part about Erin Cross. She seemed to be returning to her normal self, and I was worried that I would upset her again. On the other hand, I wanted a second opinion on the matter. "There was another part of my dream," I said. I told her about Luke meeting Erin and my hunch that Erin was Gaius's mother.

Mom didn't get upset again. On the contrary, when she looked towards me, I could practically see the gears turning in her head. "Now that's very interesting. I wonder what happened to her… At any rate, at least we know the who part now. But there's still the question of how."

I was pretty sure that after giving birth to two kids, Mom knew the biological "how," which meant she was wondering the same thing as me: how had Luke managed to impregnate this woman _after_ merging with Kronos?

"If Gaius is Kronos's son, that means that he must have been conceived _after_ Kronos possessed Luke's body," Mom posited.

I finished her thought. "So even if this Erin woman and Luke had a relationship, how did they manage to hook up after Kronos was controlling Luke?"

"Exactly," Mom said animatedly. "Kronos showed little to no interest in mortals. Some of the Titans did. Prometheus was always interested in humanity, and Atlas thought that mortals made good pets, but Kronos had no interest in pure mortals whatsoever. So to show enough interest in Erin to go and 'hook up' as you said would have been very unlike Kronos."

"Maybe Luke was influencing him?" I suggested. "If he felt enough affection towards Erin, could it be possible that his feelings for her influenced Kronos?"

"Maybe," Mom said. "I had another idea, too. He was fighting Kronos for control of his body, at least sometimes. It could be that he regained control of his body long enough to go and see her. But I have trouble with both of these theories. For your idea, when Kronos was in charge of the body, Luke had no influence except that which allowed Kronos access to his memories, at least as far as I know. And then for the idea that I brought up, about Luke fighting Kronos… Well, the times that I saw Luke take over his body again, his control lasted only a couple of minutes at most. It'd be stretch to think that he was able to regain control long enough to get the idea to go see Erin, actually travel to where she lived, and then… do the deed."

I pondered that. "What do you think, then?"

Mom looked frustrated. "I don't know. I don't have all the variables."

I fully understood her frustration. It was a frustration that I shared. "Hopefully I'll find out more soon," I said. "Athena made it seem like I had more of these dreams coming my way. With any luck, I'll have some answers before too long."

Mom nodded. "Well let me know what you find out. I'd be interested to learn more. And also, please be careful this summer Elizabeth. Gaius is bad news. Your father and I hoped that we'd provided a safe world for you and your brother to grow up in." The look on her face expressed bitter disappointment. I understood why. She and Dad had gone through unimaginable dangers and fought against impossible enemies in the belief that the world would be safer as a result. To find out that there were still insanely dangerous enemies out there, like Gaius… well, it must have made them feel like all their work had been for nothing. I know that's how I'd feel in their shoes.

"Obviously," Mom continued, "We weren't entirely successful. But we have to live with things the way they are. That being said, I still want you to watch out. Please don't take unnecessary risks."

"I'll do my best, Mom," I promised. "But you know, I am a Jackson. Trouble tends to follow us."

Mom snorted. "Ain't that the truth."

We lapsed back into silence. I tried to push thoughts about Gaius from my head, at least for the time being. After all, I'd be at camp soon! I'd get to see my friends again. Jocelyn and Theo, my two best friends at camp, would be there, waiting for me. They had visited me in the City a few times, but I hadn't seen them since my birthday party in April. I was also really excited to see Mike and Katherine, my cabin mates, again. They were like the older siblings I never had. It was a nice feeling. Being the oldest in my family, I had never gotten the experience of being the younger one, and I quite liked it.

Still, my thoughts kept straying back to the son of Kronos. Now more than ever, I wished I knew what he was up to. I knew frustratingly little about him or his plans.

When the car came to a stop, I suddenly realized we were at camp. I hopped out and grabbed my bags. I strapped Marianas, my sword, to my hip.

Mom hopped out, too. "Got everything?" she asked as we began to walk up the hill.

"Yep," I said.

"Try not to lose your knife again this summer."

I grinned. On my quest last summer, I'd had to part with the knife my parents had given me for my seventh birthday. For Christmas, I'd gotten a new knife to replace it. Even though I mostly preferred to use Marianas, it was still good to have a knife. For one, the smaller blade was easier to conceal, which meant it was perfect for keeping on me at school or around New York. And besides, it was always a good idea to have a backup weapon.

"I promise I won't lose this one," I assured her.

When we reached the top of the hill, Mom stopped. I frowned slightly. "You aren't coming to say hi to Chiron?"

She shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, I have to get back to the City pretty quickly. I've got another meeting about the Dare Enterprises deal." Mom's architectural firm, which was already huge, was in the middle of a hostile takeover of the land developer Dare Enterprises. The CEO of the company was Rachel Dare's father, but they didn't get along, apparently. Last time Rachel had come to visit she had expressed full approval for Mom's company's takeover.

Mom hugged me and kissed my forehead. "Have a good summer, honey. I love you."

"Love you, too, Mom," I said. Then I turned and bounded down the hill.

* * *

Camp was pretty much just like I remembered it. The canoe lake glittered in the sun while two triremes fought with each other. Some satyrs and campers were playing volleyball. Down in the arena a couple of campers were having a sword fight, possibly a grudge match. In the strawberry fields Demeter campers, satyrs, and nymphs tended to the plants. Just a normal day at Camp Half-Blood. I smiled. It was good to be back.

"Hey Elizabeth!" a voice called.

I turned. Dan Ocker, son of Hades, had emerged from the woods nearby. I stopped and waited for him to stride over to me. He was about my age with a swath of platinum blond hair and skin pale as death, which I guess made sense. His eyes were icy blue. He was wearing a bronze breastplate over his black t-shirt. A Stygian iron sword was strapped to his left hip and a double sided, one handed Celestial bronze battle axe was strapped to his right.

The son of Hades was nice enough. I hadn't interacted with him a whole lot last summer, but he had come to thank me personally for "clearing his father's name" after I returned from my quest last year. He'd even insisted that he owed me one. While it was entirely unnecessary, I did appreciate the sincerity of the gesture.

"Hey Dan," I said as he got close. "Been out in the woods hunting monsters?"

"Yeah, but I didn't find anything," he said with a shrug. I resumed walking, and Dan walked alongside me. "How was your year?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Not too bad. Pretty uneventful for the most part. You're a year rounder, right? Anything happen here?"

"Eh," Dan said, "business as usual for the most part. The Hunters of Artemis came by over the winter, beat us at capture the flag." I frowned for two reasons. The first: Thalia, Artemis's lieutenant, was a really good family friend, and I always liked to see her. The second: the Hunters were notorious for beating Camp Half-Blood at capture the flag. "Oh yeah, and Alex de Marco left on a quest a couple of days ago."

I raised my eyebrows. Alex was the head counselor of the Zeus cabin and my least favorite person at camp. I was partially glad that he'd be gone and out of my hair, for now, at least. On the other hand, I was almost positive his quest had _something_ to do with Gaius. After all, Athena had just told me that he was becoming active again.

"Who went with Alex on the quest?" I asked.

Dan shook his head. "No one. He went alone."

"What?!"

"Yeah it was the weirdest thing. Apparently he woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream. I hear he was pretty shaken up. So he went over to Gwendolyn's cave and woke her up. He got a prophecy. He wouldn't tell anyone what it said, but he insisted that he was supposed to go alone. Vanessa was really upset at him. She told him that going alone would get him killed." Vanessa was Alex's full sister. They were really close, not unlike me and Matt. She was a year and a half younger than him, and was basically the second in command of the Zeus cabin. She was just as obnoxious as her brother.

"So does anyone know what his prophecy said?" I asked. "Did anyone check Gwendolyn's shirt?" Gwendolyn always wrote her prophecies on her shirt in sharpie.

Dan snorted. "Please, that shirt is harder to decipher than her prophecies. Besides, it's entirely possible that she didn't even write it down yet. If Alex wanted her to keep it a secret, she'd do it. She nice like that. And Alex did want it kept a secret. He wouldn't even tell Vanessa what it said."

I frowned. "How do you know this much then? If Alex wanted all this to be a secret, why do you know so much about it?"

Dan cocked an eyebrow at me. "Have you forgotten how effective the rumor mill is here?"

I conceded his point. Just then, we reached the Big House. "Well, I better go check in with Chiron."

"Alright," Dan said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Dan walked off down the hill to the cabin area. There were so many cabins that I hadn't even bothered to try and count them all. A lot of them were empty. They were arranged in parallel U shapes. The innermost "U" was for the Olympians minus Hades. Each U was progressively bigger. Uncle Jason was a big reason that there were so many cabins. When he'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood there had only been 20, apparently. After the giant war, he'd made sure that all of the gods got cabins at Camp Half-Blood and temples at Camp Jupiter. He knew more about the gods than anyone I knew.

I turned back to the porch. It was time to go talk to Chiron. I had a lot to tell him, and a lot of questions.

* * *

 **AN: I hope you enjoyed chapter 2. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you guys on Tuesday!**


	3. Chapter 3: Jocelyn Proves She's a Genius

**AN: Hey guys! I'm back again! So I've made the decision that my second upload every week will be on EITHER Friday or Saturday. I'll play things by ear, and see which day is busier for me. So keep an eye out for both of those days. Also, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorited, or even just read this story so far. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying book 2 already :)**

 **Now, I did get a question last time from AnamariaJovel, so I'll go ahead and address that.  
Q: "** **Why is Dan so caught up in telling Elizabeth everything all of a sudden? If I didn't know any better I'd sense that Dan isn't only being a nice person, or a friend...Does he maybe sorta like Elizabeth?!"  
A: Honestly, I hadn't really thought of that. There were a couple of reasons both in-story and from my perspective that Dan is the one who talked to Elizabeth. Firstly, Dan was in the right place at the right time to see Elizabeth arriving. Certainly, they are on fairly friendly terms, and they both had to walk in the same general direction anyway, so it made sense to walk together. Also, Dan still feels very much indebted to Elizabeth. He was very genuine when he told Elizabeth he owed her one, and though he probably wouldn't directly remind her of it, he puts himself around her as an indirect reminder of the debt he owes.  
From the writing perspective, too, Dan ended up making the most sense for me to use. When I first wrote that scene, I already knew how I wanted Elizabeth's first interactions with her other friends at camp to go, but I still wanted her to learn very quickly that Alex was on a quest. Furthermore, Dan will have a fairly important role to play, but not for a couple more books yet. Until then, he won't be getting a lot of "screen time," but I want to keep him present in small ways throughout the series so that it's not completely out of left field when I bring him in for something a bit more significant later on. Having Dan be the one to explain to Elizabeth about Alex's quest seemed like the perfect way to address both of these goals.**

 **Phew, that was a long answer. Anyway, that's it from me for now. Enjoy the chapter! DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Jocelyn Proves She's a Genius

As I came around the corner of the porch, I found four people sitting around a table playing cards. I knew from experience that the game they were playing was pinochle. First there was Chiron, the activities director of camp. He had scraggly brown hair and a matching beard. He wore a tweed jacket and was cooped up in his wheelchair. He didn't want to scare new campers with his horse half right away.

Across from Chiron sat one of the less pleasant aspects of camp: our director Mr. D. After chasing an off-limits wood nymph, Mr. D had been punished to be the director of Camp Half-Blood. As a result, he was always grumpy and mean to the campers. He was very pudgy, with a flushed face, a leopard print Hawaiian shirt that made me want to vomit (Hawaiian shirts are the _worst_ ), khaki shorts, long black socks, and red sneakers.

The third person at the table was my Uncle Grover, with his curly hair and huge goat horns. His goatee was well maintained. Around his neck hung a set of reed pipes, which he could use to work all kinds of magic. Grover was one of the Lords of the Wild, and was in charge of sending other satyrs out to find new Half-Bloods and escort them safely to camp.

The last person at the table was Gwendolyn Bennet, the oracle. She was a nice girl but a bit quirky. She always wore converse sneakers painted with various designs. This particular pair was colored in the style of a Pikachu. She was wearing dark green tights and a black denim skirt with nice, deep pockets. As always, the camp t-shirt she wore was covered in sharpie – various prophecies the oracle had told over the years. She also enjoyed dyeing her hair various different colors. She'd told me once that she chose a new color for each summer. This year her hair was bright lime green, which clashed magnificently with her tights.

My initial instinct was to run up to Chiron and Uncle Grover and hug them, but I felt like it would be more pertinent to greet Mr. D first. Otherwise he might decide to incinerate me. Or turn me into a dolphin. I gave him a small jerk of the head that I hoped counted as I bow, then gave Chiron and Grover hugs.

Gwendolyn smiled at me. "What's up, Jackson?"

"Hey," I said brightly to her. Honestly, even with everything going on, it was really good to be back. "How is everyone?"

"Just peachy Eliza Johansson," Mr. D muttered sarcastically. "Really looking forward to another summer of dealing with you brats."

"You'll have to excuse Mr. D," Chiron said. "I'm afraid he hasn't been playing very well today."

"You can say that again," Gwendolyn said. "How many drachma do you owe me, again? Twenty? Thirty?" That was one of the other great things about Gwendolyn: since she was the oracle, she was off-limits for godly retaliation, which meant she could give Mr. D all the lip she wanted without fear of retribution.

Mr. D threw down his cards. "You are the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I'm going inside." And with that, Mr. D promptly stood up and went inside. After a moment, I heard the sounds of his Pacman machine starting up.

Uncle Grover shifted nervously on his hooves. "You should be careful, Gwendolyn. You won't be the oracle forever, and if you make him too angry, he'll probably destroy you the moment you become mortal again."

Gwendolyn shrugged. "I'm not too worried. He'll probably be too lazy to do anything, anyway."

Chiron cleared his throat, indicating that that particular topic was to be dropped. "How are you, my dear?" he asked me.

I sat down in Mr. D's vacant seat. "I'm… I don't really have a good answer for that question." I lowered my voice somewhat. "Actually, it's probably good that Mr. D got up. I have some things I want to talk to you about. And according to my grandmother, Zeus has forbidden discussion on the topic. Don't want Mr. D reporting back to him what I'm about to tell you guys."

Gwendolyn raised her eyebrows. "Gaius, then? Did you find out something new?"

I glanced briefly at Uncle Grover. "I already know," he assured me. "Chiron filled me in. Wanted to make sure that someone with contacts in the Wild knew what was going on."

I nodded. It made sense. Even if Zeus wanted to ignore the problem of Gaius, Chiron was smart enough to work behind the scenes and make sure that we were all prepared for whatever might happen. "Okay, then," I said. "Well, last night, Athena visited me in my dreams. Said that despite Zeus's orders not to, she did some digging on Gaius. Told me that I would have more dreams along the same lines until I saw everything she managed to discover."

"And what has Athena found?" Chiron asked.

I told them all about my dream, and my hunch that Erin Cross was Gaius's mom. I also highlighted that Gaius was going to make a move soon. The entire time, all three of them stared at me intently, waiting for me to finish my story. "And I heard," I finished, "that Alex left on a quest –"

"No such thing as a secret here, is there?" Gwendolyn muttered.

"– and I wondered if his quest had anything to do with Gaius."

Chiron and Gwendolyn shared a look. Grover pulled a tin can out of seemingly nowhere and began to eat it. Finally, Chiron spoke. "Alex's quest is his business. We can only hope that he is successful. Speculating about his quest will do you no good, Elizabeth."

"But –" I protested, then cut myself off. _Don't be rash_ , I told myself. _It's none of your business_. "Yes sir," I said miserably.

Chiron frowned at me. I'd known him my whole life. I don't think I'd ever called him sir before. However, Chiron refrained from commenting about it. "As for your dream about Erin Cross, I cannot help you in that matter either."

"It just seems so weird," Uncle Grover said. "I mean, we never heard anything about this Erin woman until now? What's that all about?"

Gwendolyn was frowning. "I just don't entirely understand… Ugh! I feel like I should have had a prophecy about this whole Gaius business! I'm completely sure that this is something the oracle would have a prophecy for, but it's just not coming out of me. Like it's already been told or something. It's like it's missing."

"How would that be possible?" I asked. "Can prophecies be stolen?"

"An interesting question," Chiron said. "Many prophecies that were told in ancient times are now missing. Either they were never recorded, or the recordings have been lost over the millennium. But I am unaware of any recent prophecies that have been told but forgotten. Rachel passed on all her prophecies to Gwendolyn, and as you know, Gwendolyn is meticulous about keeping records of her prophecies."

"Is it possible someone broke into your cave and stole whatever prophecy there might be about Gaius from your records?" I asked.

"Unlikely," Gwendolyn said. "I'd have noticed. And even if they managed it, there would still be someone who remembers the prophecy. A prophecy about the son of Kronos is what we in the field call 'a big deal.'"

"We will just have to wait until we learn more," Chiron said. "In time, I am sure that it will all become clearer. But until we have more information, trying to speculate does us no good. For now, we must wait."

I sighed. "I hate waiting."

Chiron reached across the table and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know. But until we have more to go on, that's all we can do. For now, you should take your things down to your cabin. Go and find your friends. Settle back in, and try to enjoy your summer."

"Okay," I said glumly, recognizing my dismissal. I stood up and said goodbye to all of them, then left the porch, deciding to at least try what Chiron said.

* * *

As soon as I stepped through the door of the Poseidon cabin, I was tackled with a hug. Golden blonde hair obscured my vision, and some even went in my mouth. I choked on it and coughed. My assailant backed up sheepishly.

"Holy Hera, Katherine," a deep voice said, "let her set her things down."

"Sorry," my attacker said to me, then glared at her half-brother. "Don't you give me that. _You_ goaded me into that."

My cabin mates were pretty much the same as I remembered them. Katherine's long blonde hair hung loose, and though her face was contorted in mock anger at Mike, the sparkle in her green eyes gave away the joke. I realized with a start that even though she was a year older than me, I was just as tall as her now.

Mike stood back a little ways. He stood a bit over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and really large muscles. His black hair was short, and his eyes were teal. His mouth was open wide in a laugh.

I took my stuff over to my bunk, above which hung my dad's Minotaur horn, while Mike and Katherine had their fake argument. For a moment, I considered telling them about my dream. They did know the truth about Gaius, after all. But I decided that it could wait. I was just enjoying hanging out with them for the time being.

We spent some time catching up. Before long, though, Mike got a text from his girlfriend Violet, who'd just gotten back to camp, so he rushed off to see her.

"Same old, same old," I said fondly.

"Yeah," Katherine agreed. "I missed you guys over the year." Of the three of us in the Poseidon cabin, Katherine was the only year rounder. Mike went back home to Iowa, I went back to the City. I had never heard the story of why Katherine ended up as a year rounder, but I could assume that it was sad. Most campers who were year rounders didn't have a family to return to. "And you know what sucks?" she went on.

"What?" I asked.

"This is Mike's last summer."

"Really?" That was news to me. When I'd moved in, Mike had seemed almost like a permanent fixture of the camp. To not have him around would be really weird.

"Yeah, he's going to College in New Rome in the fall, same as Violet," she said. "He was telling me about it before you got here. During the summers, I guess he's going to get a job there in New Rome. I mean, I'm happy for him, but it'll be really weird not having him around. I'll miss seeing him every summer."

I nodded. Even though I'd only met Mike last summer, I couldn't help but agree.

Just then, there was a knock at the cabin door. It was one of the Nike campers, James. He was from Ireland, and had red hair, pale skin, and freckles. He was Katherine's age. A lanky kid, only a little taller than Katherine and I, he didn't look particularly intimidating. But like all Nike kids, he was fiercely competitive. You really wouldn't want to bet against him in anything.

"Hey Katherine," he said. I couldn't help but grin ever so slightly when he spoke. Irish accents were cool. "I was wondering if we could do some more practice. The track is open."

Katherine sighed, half exasperated, half amused. "Yeah, okay. I'll be along in a couple minutes."

"Cool," he said, and left.

To my questioning glance, she responded, "There's a chariot race next Saturday. I partnered up with him."

"Really?" I asked intrigued. "Why'd you partner with James?"

"Zeus knows," she muttered. "I really want to win, I guess. And uh… we hung out a lot over the winter, so we work well together." I could've sworn her cheeks turned pink at that. "Anyway, you can come watch us practice if you want."

"Naw," I said. "I think I'll just go and find Theo and Jocelyn. Any idea where they might be?"

"I think I saw them playing basketball earlier," Katherine said. "They might still be doing that."

I nodded. "Thanks. Now you better hurry up. Don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting," I added with a smirk.

Katherine lit up red. "He's not my boyfriend," she said a bit too quickly and a bit too forcefully. I laughed.

* * *

On my way over to the basketball courts, I passed by Augustus and one of his friends. When he saw me, Gus's face lit up, and he waved me over. Augustus had inherited his insanely good looks from the Aphrodite side, though his father's genes certainly didn't hurt. He was the only other guy our age who was even remotely close to my friend Theo's height. Because he was one-quarter Native American, his skin was a little bit darker than average Caucasian skin, which made it look like he had a perpetual perfect tan. He had Uncle Jason's sky blue eyes and Aunt Piper's chocolate brown hair, which was the perfect length for running your hands through while –

I mentally slapped myself. _Enough of that_ , I thought. Until last summer, Augustus and I had not gotten along very well. We had butt heads constantly. It had gotten better last summer, and we'd become friends again. I mean, we still butt heads, but it was less often and less malicious when we did. Then, over the course of the school year, he and I had started hanging out a lot. I tried convincing myself that it was just because his twin sister, Sierra, was out at Camp Jupiter, and he was the closest thing I could get to hanging out with her, but my heart beat rebelliously fast every time I was around him.

"Hey, Gus," I said casually when I got close. I alternated between calling him Gus and Augustus. I used to call him Gus to annoy him, but since we'd stopped fighting so often, it had lost that edge. "When'd you get here?"

"Couple hours ago," he said, smiling at me. "Do you know Jake?" he asked, indicating his friend.

His friend, Jake, was a couple of years older than us. I didn't know him very well, though I saw him and Augustus hanging out quite a bit the previous summer. Jacob Anderson was the Head of the Hephaestus cabin. Like most of the Hephaestus kids, he was a big guy, with calloused hands from working in the forges. His hair was dark and the ends were curled upwards. A pair of those blowtorch safety goggles were over his eyes like sunglasses. His face and hands were covered in a layer of grease and soot. His shirt, too, had soot stains.

"I've seen him around," I said. "Nice to officially meet you Jake."

"Likewise," he said.

"I was just asking Jake if he wanted to form a chariot racing team with me," Augustus said. "Did you here there's going to be a chariot race next Saturday?"

"Yeah, I did," I said.

"Well anyway," Jake said, "I have to get going. Wanna shower up before dinner. Do you want to get together after dinner to draw up plans for our chariot?"

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Gus said. "See you later, man."

Jake walked off. I shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, unsure where to take the conversation. I was just about to decide to say goodbye and walk away when I noticed the sword hanging at Augustus's side. "That's new," I commented.

"Hm?" He glanced down. "Oh yeah." He drew the sword from its sheath. It was a kopis. It was a longer, heavier blade than I usually used. It had only one cutting edge, which was curved. "Like it? It's new. I call it Storm's Edge. Cool name, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Gus to come up with a dorky name like that. "Have you tried it out yet?"

"Yeah," he said. "I went straight to the arena to try it out. I fought against Spencer. He gave me some pointers. It felt good. I like the reach." Spencer was the head counselor of the Ares cabin and the camp's top weapons expert. At a camp full of kids descended from the Greek gods, you would expect to find a lot of well-built kids, but Spencer outdid all of them. He was basically a mountain of muscle, and he was always armed to the teeth. He kept three hunting knives strapped to each thigh, a huge long sword to his left hip, a machete to his right hip, and, for good measure, a spear and longbow on his back. The guy was like a one man army.

"Who gave it to you?" I asked.

"Elesa," Augustus said. "Right as soon as I got here."

" _What?!_ "

"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing," he responded. "She just came up to me and said that I was supposed to have that sword. It was newly forged. She didn't seem all that happy about giving it to me, to be honest. Almost like someone had told her to give me the sword."

My mind spun. Elesa was the head counselor of the Athena cabin. It looked like I needed to ask her some questions, but I was willing to bet a million drachma that Athena had sent her a dream message recently, too. Which meant that whatever Gaius was planning, surely Augustus had some kind of role to play. Why Athena hadn't just told me that herself, I didn't know, but it annoyed me.

"Make sure you take good care of that sword," I said to Gus. "I feel like it might be from… well anyway. Just take good care of it. And also be careful. Last summer, I got my sword right before I went on a quest. So keep your eye out, and try to stay safe."

Augustus gave me a bemused look. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried about me."

"Good thing you know better."

Augustus grinned mischievously. "I don't know, Beth." I prickled at the name. "I think you do care about me. In fact, I think you might even _like_ me."

My face burned. "I – I – what? Gods, you are so annoying!" I snapped. I stomped away.

"Wait!" Augustus called. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, I was only joking!"

I didn't look back. It probably wasn't fair of me to get upset at him like that. He was just teasing. But the tease had hit a little close to home. The problem was I _did_ like him. And I was mad at myself for it. He was the ever-annoying Augustus Grace. I wasn't supposed to like him in any capacity except, _maybe_ as a friend. So how come my emotions wouldn't get with the program?

In my confused and slightly enraged state, I didn't realize that my feet had carried me to the basketball courts until I heard Jocelyn. "Screw you, Theo!"

"No thanks," came the response. "You're not exactly my type."

I looked up. My friends hadn't seen me yet, but I saw them. They were busy playing basketball. By the sounds of it, Theo had just scored. Theo was tall, with dark skin and dark hair in a buzz cut. His arms were leanly muscular from all his work with a bow. I'd heard him described as the best archer at camp on more than one occasion, and I had seen how good he was with a bow up close. It was really impressive. Last summer, I had harbored a crush on him. The crush had grown to the point that I had actually kissed him. That's when I found out he was gay. I had long since dropped my feelings for him, and our friendship had become even closer as a result.

Jocelyn was on the shorter end of average height, with pretty shoulder length caramel hair and hazel eyes that sparkled when she was about to a) play a joke or b) rob somebody blind. She was really good at both of those activities, a result of her status as a child of Hermes. She was originally from the south. She mostly lost her southern accent, but whenever she became stressed or upset, her southern accent acted up. Normally, her hair would be loose, but it was up in a ponytail for the basketball game.

"You should give up, Joce," I called by way of greeting. "You're just too short."

My friends whirled towards me and grinned. Then, Jocelyn took the momentary distraction to grab the ball from Theo's hands and shoot a basket. It was a solid three-pointer.

"Hey, no fair!" Theo complained. "That doesn't count."

"Oh, it totally counts," Jocelyn replied. Then she ran over and hugged me, making sure to get as much of her sweat on me as possible.

"Ugh!" I said. "Jocelyn sweat."

She laughed. "You should be grateful. One day, when I'm famous, you'll be able to say 'Jocelyn Clement sweat on me. It was wonderful.'"

I snorted. "Yeah, not gonna happen." Theo came over and hugged me, too, adding his sweat to the mix. "Oh come on!" I protested. "You, too?!"

Theo backed up and grinned. "Sorry, I had to. Anyway, how are you?"

"Yeah, gotten into any trouble since your birthday?" Jocelyn asked. "Because if you haven't, I'm going to consider that a failure on your part."

"No, I haven't gotten into any trouble," I said. I didn't answer Theo's question yet, because the answer to that one was complicated.

Jocelyn frowned at me. "Really? I'm disappointed in you. You didn't even pull any pranks? Pull the fire alarm at school? Nothing?"

I shrugged. "Sorry. Trouble making is your department. I don't need to make trouble, it usually finds me. It's the Jackson curse."

Jocelyn just shook her head.

"Did you hear there's going to be a chariot race?" Theo asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I did. Don't have a partner yet. Did you guys partner up?"

Theo shook his head. "Jocelyn hates chariots. They make her nauseous."

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Really? Chariots make you nauseous?"

"Watch yourself, Jackson," Jocelyn said. "I can still take you any day of the week. Yeah, I don't like riding in chariots. But, I can help you guys trick yours out, assuming you do team up with Theo for the race."

"Of course I'll team up with Theo," I said.

Theo beamed. "Great! We can register with Chiron tonight at dinner."

I smiled, too. Then I felt my thoughts stray inexplicably back to my dream last night. I really wanted to tell Theo and Jocelyn about it. They'd been with me when I'd met Gaius face to face. They had the right to know what I'd found out. I cleared my throat. "Guys, there is something new that happened, though. But let's go somewhere private to talk."

Both of my friends looked at me seriously. "Is it about Gaius?" Theo asked.

I nodded slowly. "Come on, the Poseidon cabin should still be empty."

* * *

We chatted in my cabin. Mike and Katherine were, as expected, still gone, but if they showed back up, they did know about Gaius, so it wouldn't be terrible. After I finished explaining my dream, my friends sat there thoughtfully.

"Who have you told?" Jocelyn asked after a couple minutes.

"Besides you guys?" I said. "I told Mom on the car ride here. Chiron, Gwendolyn, and Uncle Grover – Grover Underwood, I mean – know, too."

"And Athena said that Gaius was going to make a move soon?" Theo asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. And it seems like she thinks Augustus may be involved somehow. I think she sent a dream message to Elesa, telling her to give him a sword."

Jocelyn nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting. But she didn't tell you exactly what Gaius was up to?"

I shook my head bitterly. "No, Zeus has forbidden discussion about Gaius. She said if she told me too much about what he was up to now, he'd find out that she told me. But I also think that Alex de Marco's quest might have something to do with all this. It can't just be a coincidence that he left on a quest just a couple days ago."

"You're probably right," Jocelyn said.

"So do you think that this information will help you beat Gaius?" Theo asked.

I sat quietly for a minute. "I don't think it's as simple as that," I said slowly. "Clearly, Gaius knows a lot about me. He knew how to predict what I would do last summer. I don't think this information will necessarily help me beat him, but if I understand him better then I can predict what he might do. The trouble is, I know so little right now. I mean, I know I'll get more dreams, but when? Like, who was Erin Cross?"

"I thought you said she was Gaius's mom?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she is," I said. "But like… who was she besides that? It's just frustrating."

"Maybe I can help," Jocelyn said. "When did your dream take place? Twenty-seven, twenty-eight years ago?"

I nodded. "Yeah, right about. Mom looked my age, so it took place a year and a half or two years before my dad beat Kronos."

"Which happened twenty-six years ago?" Jocelyn clarified.

I nodded. "Yeah, twenty-six years in August."

Jocelyn pulled out her phone. "And how old would you say Erin was?"

I shrugged. "Early twenties, maybe late teens?"

"What are you doing?" Theo asked, looking curiously at Jocelyn.

She was tapping away furiously at her phone. "Okay, so the internet has been around for a while now. And almost everyone leaves some kind of trace on the internet. A woman of about twenty right around 2010? She'd've had a Facebook or Twitter. Maybe an Instagram, too."

The names of those websites sounded vaguely familiar. "I feel like I've heard of them before."

"They're all old social media sites," Jocelyn explained. "They were really popular back then."

"And do those websites still exist?" Theo asked.

Jocelyn shrugged. "Some of them do, though they aren't popular anymore. Some of those sites shut down. But even if the sites are gone, Erin Cross's profile on them will still exist on the internet archives. See, there is actually an organization that has archived a bunch of old webpages dating all the way back to the birth of the World Wide Web. I can dig through the archives and find Erin Cross."

Theo whistled, impressed. I was impressed, too, but there was something bothering me. "Erin Cross isn't a particularly uncommon name," I pointed out. "There are probably a lot of people called that. How can you be sure if you've found the right one?"

"Well that's why I'm not searching any of the modern social media sites," Jocelyn said. "After all, it's fairly likely that she's still alive and well." I hadn't thought of that. Wrapping my head around the idea of a random mortal woman being Gaius's mother was weird enough, but the possibility that she was actually still alive? That hadn't occurred to me at all. "But I would probably never find her on modern social media sites because I would lack my two search limiters."

"And those are?"

"Well for one," Jocelyn said, "we know where she lived back then: San Fran, or at least the area around it. If she put where she lived on her profile, that would really help narrow things down. But see, there's no guarantee that she stayed in that area, so I would have to check the old sites for that information."

"And the second?" I prompted.

Jocelyn smiled wryly. "Do you think that people obsessively posting pictures of themselves online is a new phenomenon? Even if she didn't have a particularly long or particularly deep relationship with Luke, she probably posted a picture of them online at _some_ point. I find a picture of a woman named Erin Cross with Luke Castellan, I know I've found the right Erin Cross."

"But you don't know what Luke looks like," I protested.

"Yes I do," Jocelyn assured me. "I know what Gaius looks like, and you told me that he and Luke look exactly alike."

I sat there, a little stunned. It was brilliant. I could get some answers about who Erin Cross was. Theo shook his head in awe. "You're incredible, you know that? If I was straight, I'd freaking kiss you."

Jocelyn smirked, still tapping away at her phone. "What else is new? Anyway, this'll probably take a little while. There's not exactly fantastic cell service here, and even if there was, digging through the archives is going to take a lot of time. But I'll definitely keep you updated."

I nodded, full of excitement. I was back at camp with my friends, there was the excitement of a chariot race coming up, and soon I would have some answers about Erin Cross. There was still a lot going on, but at least we were doing something about it. Things were looking pretty good.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, that's it for now. I know that hasn't been all that much action yet, but next chapter things will really start to pick up. With that, I'll see you guys on Friday or Saturday. Have a great week!**


	4. Chapter 4: We Get an Unexpected Call

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry again that this is a few days late. I hope everyone is okay with that. This chapter is my longest one yet, though, so you didn't wait in vain! As I said, I tried shifting some things around in my schedule so that I'd have more time to write. Hopefully it won't be an issue anymore. I'll still push for two uploads a week: one on Tuesday, one on either Friday or Saturday, but if school work starts getting heavy, that might have to change. Regardless, I will keep you guys updated on that front.**

 **As always, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, read, followed, or favorited either of the Elizabeth Jackson stories. Your support means a lot :)**

 **Also, I wanted to apologize that the last couple chapters have had some minor grammatical errors. I haven't been checking as diligently as I should recently, and, in any case, some errors are bound to slip through from time to time. Hopefully, this chapter is the most error-free yet!**

 **Alright, that's enough from me. Enjoy the chapter, and DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 4: We Get an Unexpected Phone Call

My first week back at camp was the busiest week I'd had in a very long time. Aside from my normal camp activities, there was also the matter of preparing for the upcoming chariot race. Jocelyn, Theo, and I spent every spare moment we had preparing for the race. Almost always, I brought our conversations around to one topic in particular. Finally, Jocelyn snapped, "No, Elizabeth, I don't have anything yet! I will let you know when I do."

"Why is it taking so long?" I complained. "You started looking days ago!"

"I told you that it would take some time," she said, exasperatedly. "There are a lot of web pages to go through, and I haven't exactly had a lot of free time to look through the archives. I will tell you when I find something, alright?"

After that I stopped asking her about Erin Cross.

I also spent a good deal of time obsessing about whatever Gaius was up to. To that effect, one day after dinner I approached Elesa Oswald. She was originally from England. Her blonde hair was usually up in a bun, her grey eyes intimidating, her cheek bones well defined and a bit higher than average. She was pretty in a scary I'm-superior-to-you-in-every-way sort of way. She and I had never had much of an opinion of each other. I think she was still withholding judgement on me.

"Hey, Elesa," I said. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

She turned to me with raised eyebrows. "What is it, Elizabeth?"

I looked around at the mass of campers still milling around, getting ready to head off to their cabins or hang out someplace else (perhaps Fort Stoll) until the campfire. "I'd rather go somewhere private to talk."

Elesa seemed to consider for a moment. "Alright. I know a good place to go for that."

She promptly turned and strode off across the lawn. Taken aback, it took me a second to catch up with her. When I did, we walked silently for a few minutes. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "So, uh… how was your year?"

Elesa gave me a sideways glance. "Not too bad."

"Are you a year rounder, or just a summer camper?" I asked, both pleased and bemused that I was making small talk with Elesa.

"Year rounder," she replied. "I could probably go back to England if I want to, but it's a long plane flight, which costs a lot of money. Not to mention complications with… well, never mind."

"Complications with what?"

Elesa gave me a dirty look. "If I wanted to tell you, I would. Clearly I don't." I went silent again. After a few minutes, Elesa spoke again, less harshly. "I am sorry for snapping at you. Suffice it to say that it takes me a little while to warm up to people."

"It's alright," I said. "I shouldn't have asked. We don't really know each other that well."

"Mmm," Elesa agreed. "Perhaps had you joined the Athena cabin, things might be different. But there's no point in wondering that. Anyway, we're here."

I was still wondering what she meant by the Athena cabin comment. Did she perhaps feel upset that I had joined the Poseidon cabin instead of the Athena cabin? But I shook away the thought and glanced up at where we were. In front of me stood a round structure with a domed roof held up by a series of pillars rather than walls. Through the pillars, I could see a tall statue of Athena. We were at the temple of the Athena Parthenos.

I hadn't spent a whole lot of time here last year. I'd never really had much of a chance or reason to. It was a pretty impressive place, though. I knew that my mother had designed it. Elesa was already striding up the low set of steps into the temple itself, so I followed her inside. She walked over to one of the marble benches surrounding the statue and sat down. I sat next to her.

"People don't visit this place very often," Elesa commented. "But I really like it here. It's peaceful, and it helps me feel connected to my mother."

I nodded. It did feel very impressive in here. The whole structure practically hummed with the power of Athena. I almost felt smarter just sitting in here.

"So, you wanted to talk?" Elesa prompted.

"Yes," I said. "Augustus tells me you gave him a sword when he first got here."

A sour look crossed Elesa's faces, but she sighed and nodded. "Yes. I was having it made for my brother, back in England. He's also a child of Athena. Anyway, his birthday is coming up, and I was having it made for him. But then… well, something came up and I had to give it to Augustus." I almost asked about her brother. If she had a brother back in England, why didn't she like to go home? But I bit my tongue.

Instead, I asked, "Athena visited you in a dream, didn't she?" Elesa gave me an astonished look. I nodded. "I figured, but I just wanted to double check. She visited me recently, too. What did she tell you?"

"Not much," Elesa said. "Just that Augustus Grace would have need of that sword, and that I was to give it to him. What did she say in yours?"

I chewed my lip, considering for a moment whether to answer. I decided to tell a half-truth. "She said that something was going to happen soon. But what I don't understand is why she'd tell me that something was going to happen, but not tell me that somehow Augustus would be involved."

Elesa seemed to consider this for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure what to tell you, Elizabeth. Mother can be mysterious sometimes. But remember, she's the goddess of wisdom. There's a reason for everything she does. Somehow, it fits into her strategy. Perhaps she doesn't think it pertinent to put all her eggs in one basket?"

"Maybe," I said slowly. The thought had crossed my mind as well. It made sense, but it was still annoying. If, by whatever chance, Gaius was right, and he and I were somehow destined enemies, wouldn't it make sense to ensure I was as well-informed as possible? Gaius was certainly well-informed. Wasn't the whole purpose of the dreams I was getting from Athena to make sure that I was well-informed, too? Why leave out Augustus's role?

"I'm sorry, I don't really know what else to tell you. But if Athena thinks that something is going to happen, then we'd better make sure we're prepared. Now, was there anything else you wanted?"

I thought for a moment. Elesa was pretty smart. She was a good person to bounce ideas off of. But she didn't know the truth about Gaius, so I couldn't very well talk to her about what he might be up to without breaking my promise to Chiron. The whole thing was frustrating. How was I supposed to find answers if I couldn't openly question people who might be able to help?

Then, I realized that maybe there was an indirect way ask Elesa about Gaius. "One more thing," I said. "Alex. Any idea what his quest might be about?"

"Hard to say," Elesa said thoughtfully. "Gwendolyn continues to keep his prophecy secret. But it has something to do with his family."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "I hadn't heard that."

"Oh yes," Elesa confirmed. "I personally overheard Alex and Vanessa arguing right before he left. He said something about their mother."

"Who was their mother?"

Elesa shook her head. "No clue. But if I'm right, and Alex's quest has something to do with his family, I don't really see how that could be related to whatever my mother thinks is going to happen soon. What could one mortal woman have to do with any affairs in our world?"

I shrugged, perplexed. It was a good question. Yet, I was absolutely sure that Alex's quest had something to do with whatever Gaius was doing. It couldn't just be a coincidence. As far as I were considered, coincidences weren't possible.

The conch horn sounded, signaling the campfire. "We should get going," Elesa said.

"Yeah," I agreed. We stood up and walked down to the campfire together, but I wasn't really involved in the sing-a-long. I was too busy going over the new information I had. Why had Athena not told me about Augustus? Was it, as Elesa said, to make sure all her eggs weren't in the same basket, or was there some other reason? And how did Alex and his mother factor into all of this?

* * *

"Alright, the chariot is nearly done," Jocelyn said on Wednesday evening.

I surveyed the vehicle that Theo and I would be riding around the track in. It was nice, as far as chariots went. The simple design of chariots didn't leave much room for fancy add-ons, but the basket we'd be riding in was reinforced with celestial bronze that Jocelyn had "procured." Furthermore, Jocelyn had installed a series of tricks and traps that didn't take up much space. The spot where I was going to stand, as the driver, had the panel with the buttons for the tricks.

"Great," Theo said. "We should probably pick out horses."

"I can do that," I offered. "You guys go ahead and put the finishing touches on the chariot. I'll be right back. Maybe we can go down to the track and do a test run?"

Theo nodded. "Sounds good."

I turned away from the chariot as Theo and Jocelyn got out the paint supplies and began to go to work painting it. I ran over to the stables, waving to people I knew as I passed. When I got close to the stables, I heard something of a racket going on inside. There was the sound of wings flapping angrily, and a girl cursing.

I entered the stables to see one of the Pegasi rearing up. He was a beautiful animal, with hair so dark he almost looked blue. The girl who was cursing stood in front of him. I recognized her. She had long, dark-red hair woven in an intricate plait and the strangest eyes of anyone I'd ever met. They were pale yellow, and they glowed, making them seem bigger than they were. It was Helen, head of the Hecate cabin. When I'd first met her, I'd assumed she was a few years older than me, but she only looked it. In reality, she only had me by a year and a half.

I ran in-between the Pegasus and Helen, holding out a hand to each. "Whoa, calm down. What happened?"

Helen began speaking at the same time as the Pegasus did, making it impossible to tell what they were saying. Oh yeah, I could speak to horses. It was quite a surprise when I'd discovered it halfway through last summer. I knew that my dad could because he used to have a Pegasus named Blackjack, but I'd never known that I'd inherited the ability. "Slow down!" I said. "One at a time. Helen, you first."

Helen looked somewhat ruffled at being bossed around like that, but she nevertheless answered in her very distinctive singsong voice. "I simply wanted a few of this fine Pegasus's hairs for a potion I'm brewing. When I reached in to take the hairs, he freaked out on me."

"Did you ask if you could take the hairs?" I prompted.

"Well I said I was going to reach in and take them, but I don't speak horse," Helen explained. "How was I supposed to know that his whinny meant no?"

I turned to the Pegasus. "Okay, your turn… er… what's your name?"

 _Name's Rocco, Miss,_ the Pegasus answered. _And yeah, I heard what the lady was saying, but she's creepy. Probably eats horse or something. I don't want no creepy lady near me._

"Her name is Helen," I said. "And she doesn't eat horse. She was telling the truth, she just wants a few of your hairs. Will you let her have a few?"

 _She don't eat horse meat or nothing?_ Rocco asked.

"No, she _doesn't_ eat horse meat," I promised.

Rocco grumbled a little bit about "creepy ladies," but he agreed to let Helen take a few hairs. Helen approached him cautiously, but once she had her hairs, she turned to me. "Thanks, Elizabeth. I appreciate the help."

"You're welcome," I replied. The last time Helen and I had really spoken had been on the last night of the previous summer, when we found out that Gaius had broken into Hecate's palace, stolen a powerful spell-book, and somehow gotten rid of Hecate. As far as I knew, Hecate was still missing.

Helen seemed to read my mind, because she said, "No, I haven't heard anything about my mother yet. But I'm worried. If someone has possession of _On the Mist_ , there's no telling what havoc they could reap."

"How could someone possibly imprison the goddess of magic?" I wondered aloud.

Helen shrugged. "They may not have necessarily imprisoned her. They could have harmed her so grievously that it will take time for her to recover. Or she could have been thrown into Tartarus. Even the gods have trouble leaving that place if they are sent there. Or it could be something else entirely. Hecate may be magic, but she's still a goddess. Anything that could bind a god would work on her, too."

I sighed. That wasn't a particularly helpful answer. But I could tell from the look on Helen's face that she was confused, and really didn't know what to do. "Well hopefully she turns up soon."

"I hope so too," Helen said. "And not just because Hecate is my mother."

"Why else?" I asked, curious. There could be innumerable reasons why she would hope Hecate came back soon, but the way Helen said it made it seem like she had something very specific in mind.

"Well think about it," Helen said. "Someone has a very powerful spell-book. Let's say you're right, and it was this Gaius fellow you mentioned at the end of last summer when we first found out. Well, if he has _On the Mist_ now, then he suddenly has access to some of the most powerful spells ever created. The only one who could possibly counteract such spells –"

"Would be Hecate," I said, the answer dawning on me. "So with Hecate gone, that leaves whoever has the book at perfectly liberty to do whatever spells they want."

Helen nodded. "Exactly." She let that unpleasant note hang in the air for a minute before saying, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must be going. Got a potion to finish."

I blinked. "Uh, okay. See you later."

I stood there in silence for a few minutes, trying to process what Helen had just told me. What kind of magic were Gaius and his crew trying to perform?

 _Hey, Miss?_ Rocco asked. _You feeling okay?_

"Yeah," I said absentmindedly. "Yeah, Rocco, I'm fine. Just got a lot on my mind."

* * *

The Saturday of the chariot race rolled around without any sign of answers to my many questions. It was frustrating. I hadn't been getting much sleep because I would lay awake in bed going over things again and again, regardless of how fruitless it was. When I did sleep, I kept hoping for another dream, but sadly none came. Why had Athena promised me more dreams if I wasn't going to get them? Why was she waiting to show me more?

Nevertheless, I was pretty excited when I woke up on Saturday morning. Katherine and Mike were both already up, too. They each were competing as well; Katherine with James, and Mike with his girlfriend, Violet. "Now, listen," Mike said. "I don't want you guys to be too upset when Violet and I pummel you."

"When James and I win," Katherine replied, "try not to cry. I know how sensitive you can be about these things, Mike."

"For the record," I put in, "when Theo and I win, I expect written apologies for underestimating us. Ten pages should be sufficient. In triplicate."

Mike tightened the straps on his breastplate. "Big talk, Elizabeth. How about you put your money where your mouth is? Three way bet?"

"Go on," I said.

"If I win, each of you has to give me ten drachma," Mike said.

"Fine," Katherine said. "But if _I_ win, I get to be the head counselor for two weeks."

Mike scoffed. "You'll get to be head next year anyway!"

"Then it'll be good practice," Katherine rebutted.

"Fine," I said. "But _when_ I win, I get free passes out of any activities that I don't like for a month."

"So archery basically," Mike said.

I shrugged. "Do we have a deal? Three way bet?"

Katherine strapped her sword to her waist. "You guys are on. Prepare for the rule of head counselor Katherine."

* * *

There were twenty-four teams competing in the chariot races; too many to do all of them in one heat. So it was being split into two heats of twelve. The top six from each would compete in a final round to determine the overall winner. I kept going over it with Theo as we wheeled ourselves to the starting line of the chariot track. Jocelyn walked alongside us, putting in tips.

"Remember, Elizabeth," she said, "the black button spurts out an oil slick. If someone is right on your tail, that might get them off your back."

Theo was checking his bowstring for tautness. "But they won't get that close. I'll knock them away with one of my sonic arrows."

"Which is why I'll be wearing earplugs," I added. "So if we need to talk to each other, tap first." Theo nodded. I turned to Jocelyn. "Which button makes the spikes on the outsides of the wheels come out again?"

"The brown one," she answered. "Perfect for side-by-side confrontations."

"How are you guys doing?" I asked our horses.

 _Feeling pretty damn good, my Lady,_ said our white horse, Ronan.

 _Watch your mouth!_ Snapped our other horse, a grey mare named Delilah. _Honestly, why I married you is beyond me. But yes, Mistress Elizabeth. We're ready._

"How're the horses?" Theo asked.

"Feeling pretty good," I said. "I mean, bickering, but hey, what can you do? They are married, after all."

Theo blinked. "Right…"

I glanced around at the other eleven chariots in our heat. Augustus, Katherine, and Mike were all in the second heat, so I didn't need to worry about them unless they made it into the final heat. However, there were some dangerous contenders in our heat. Elesa and another one of the Athena campers - Sylvester, I think - had a beautiful silver chariot. Elesa was at the reins, but I'd seen them practicing and knew they could switch at a moment's notice. A couple of Jocelyn's half-siblings had a chariot, too. Peter, head of the Hermes cabin, was at the reins. I knew enough to know that whatever tricks Jocelyn had put in our chariot, Peter had put in twice as many. Spencer from Ares had teamed up with Xavier from Hades. Their chariot scared me the most, perhaps, not only because it was being pulled by fire-breathing skeleton horses, but because both of them were really powerful. Xavier had the reins, which was extra scary. It meant that Spencer was free to call on his diverse arsenal of weapons that he'd stored in the chariot.

"We've got some tough competition this heat," I noted.

"Just have to make top six, though," Theo said. "We can definitely do that, right?"

"Yeah, maybe," I said. "Might be best to play it safe this time, anyhow. Save our tricks for the final round, assuming we make it."

Jocelyn nodded to us. "You guys will be great, I know it. Anyway, I'm gonna go grab a seat. Good luck."

At that moment, Chiron called out, "Heroes! Take your marks!" Theo and I put in our earplugs. _You guys got your earplugs, right?_ I telepathically asked the horses. I waited to get an affirmative answer before I pulled on my helmet. Chiron raised up the start flag. I tightened my grip on the reins. I took a deep breath. The flag dropped.

Twelve pairs of horses erupted into a gallop, and the race was underway. I was immediately forced to swerve as two teams crashed into each other, shattering their wooden chariots. Their horses charged off the track in panic. The campers from the broken chariots stood up and drew their swords. The race had gone from twelve teams to ten in a matter of seconds. This sport was awesome!

We rounded the first post at breakneck speed, solidly in seventh place. Not bad, but we needed at least sixth to qualify for the final round. Meanwhile, Peter's chariot was fast approaching from behind. I wanted to yell to Theo, but the earplugs were getting in the way of that. And I didn't dare loosen my grip on the reins to talk to him. The earplugs were great in theory, but so far I was not a fan of them in practice.

Luckily, Theo knew to take the initiative. He fired a sonic arrow right into the basket of Peter's chariot. The noise was so loud, I could hear it through the earplugs. The Hermes campers bailed. Immediately, Theo whirled around and shot another sonic arrow at the team right in front of us. It landed right underneath the wheel, causing the chariot to flip. We sped past them as we rounded the second post. We were in sixth place. All we had to do now was hold onto our position, and we'd be in the final round.

The trick was to stay far enough back from the team in front so that we weren't a threat to them while keeping the others off our tail. Speaking of which, the last two chariots behind us were gaining ground quickly. They seemed determined to get into the top six. Theo shot an arrow at each of them. It took care of one of the teams, but the other chariot had two Apollo campers on board. One of them fired an arrow that intersected Theo's in the air. That simply wouldn't do.

We trundled into lap two. I risked taking one hand off the reins to tap Theo. He glanced over at me. I motioned him to switch spots with me. He nodded his understanding and threw his bow over his back. He grabbed the reins and I let go. I pulled Marianas from its sheath. I gripped the wall of our chariot with my left hand. I tapped the trident button on my sword's hilt, and it expanded. It was one of my favorite tricks about Marianas.

I twisted my right arm around the trident's shaft to brace it, then focused. Blue-green energy gathered at the tips. I let loose. The Apollo campers looked absolutely surprised as the blast of energy hit their left wheel and shattered it.

From then on, it was smooth sailing. Theo and I stayed back from the other five teams in the top six, who, at any rate, were doing the same thing as us: playing it safe and saving the real competition for the final round. Elesa and Sylvester would be entering the final round, as would Spencer and Xavier. I was still concerned about competing against both of those teams, but I decided I'd worry about it in the final round.

As we crossed the finish line, Jocelyn came running over to us. We wheeled our chariot off the track. I pulled out my earplugs and gave the horses hay and water. "Good job. Rest up, now. We still have another round to do."

"Good going, guys," Jocelyn said. "How'd it feel?"

"It felt like the earplugs were more hassle than they were worth," I replied. "There were a couple of times it would've been easier to talk than to try and gesture."

"I agree," Theo said. "The sonic arrows were really efficient, but I feel like you and I need to be able to talk. I'll switch them out for stink arrows for this last round. Shouldn't bother us too much unless the other team is right next to us."

I nodded. "Sounds good."

Just then, the second heat began. I watched carefully, trying to size up the potential competition we had. Similarly, though, everyone in the top six, once they'd established their positions, played things safe. Unluckily, Katherine and James, Mike and Violet, and Augustus and Jake would all be competing against me and Theo. I shifted nervously on my feet. All of them were really good. Violet, who I knew was pretty good at archery, did an excellent job at keeping other chariots at bay with arrows that splattered red paint everywhere. Mike, who I'd expected to play the role of the defender/attacker, was an exceptionally good equestrian. Katherine and James were extremely good, too, but at least it didn't seem like they had any particular tricks up their sleeves. They seemed to be playing things simply. Augustus and Jake's chariot was being pulled by mechanical horses. Who knew what tricks those horses were capable of? Just in their heat I'd seen the horse's fire flaming darts out of their mouths. Jake was driving. Meanwhile, Augustus was playing defensively, weilding a couple of tricked out javelins to keep other chariots away, and using gusts of wind to help him out occasionally.

"This is going to be tough," I said uneasily.

"You guys can do it," Jocelyn insisted. "I know you can."

And with that, Chiron called everyone to the start line to begin the final round. Directly to our right was Mike and Violet's chariot. Violet looked really intense, which I hadn't really known was possible before. She was very beautiful, with long dark hair, deep blue eyes, and an annoyingly perfect hourglass figure. She was usually so sweet, but the look on the daughter of Aphrodite's face was downright scary. Apparently, she was fiercely competitive.

"Ready to lose?" Mike asked me.

"Hey, Violet," I called. "I hope you don't mind if I stop joining you guys for archery lessons, but when I win I'll be getting out of those."

Violet raised an eyebrow. "Be careful, Elizabeth. Red would be a good color on you."

Theo opened his mouth to add in some trash talk of his own, but just then Chiron called us to the ready. He raised the flag and… the race was off. Immediately one of Violet's red paint arrows exploded inside our basket. I was blinded for a second. _You guys take over steering!_ I said to our horses. I took one hand off the reins to wipe my eyes clean. Meanwhile, I heard Theo pulling his bow taut next to me. He let loose, and I was pretty sure he'd just shot an arrow in retaliation at Mike and Violet. I heard coughing from slightly in front of us, and then we passed by them.

"You smell that?" Theo taunted. "That's the smell of defeat!"

Finally, I managed to clear my eyesight and was met with chaos all around. Mike and Violet had fallen behind, incapacitated briefly by one of Theo's stink arrows, but they weren't out of the race yet by any means. Two chariots in front of us rounded the corner, hacking away at each other with swords. It was Spencer and Xavier's chariot and Elesa and Sylvester's. Up further ahead, Katherine and James were neck and neck with Augustus and Jake. With a start, I realized that Theo and I were actually in fifth place.

But we wouldn't be for long. A chariot from the Hebe cabin was pulling up behind us. _Time for the oil slick_ , I thought as we rounded the first post, the Hebe campers hot on our tail. I glanced over my shoulder. Their counselor, Ariana, was at the reins. She was nice enough, but this was a competition. No time to be nice. "Sorry!" I yelled, and slammed the black button.

Oil spurted out of a secret nozzle at the back of our chariot. The Hebe horses responded with surprising agility, but it wasn't enough. The wheels of the chariot slid, and then the whole thing spun out of control, resulting in an epic crash. The chariot right behind them with two campers from the Dionysus cabin of all cabins, got caught up in the crash. Two teams out of the race.

We rounded the second post. "We need to move up!" I yelled to Theo, who, like me, was coated head to foot in red paint. "Fifth isn't good enough! Suggestions for taking out those two in front of us?"

"I could distract them with stink arrows," he said. "Then you could swing around to the outside and activate the wheel spikes."

"Works for me!"

We launched into action. Theo fired off two stink arrows simultaneously, one landing in Elesa's chariot, the other in Spencer's. They both yelped, and their practically interlocked chariots slowed slightly. It was enough. I urged our horses faster, and we swung around to the outside. I slammed into the right side of Elesa's chariot and punched the brown button. Metal spikes shot out of the sides of my wheel and ripped apart the spokes of Elesa's right wheel. She cursed and both she and Sylvester turned towards us. It was only a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Spencer to take advantage of the moment. With a sweeping motion, he knocked both Athena campers out the back of their chariot. Simultaneously, the right wheel failed completely. I twitched our chariot to the right just in time. Elesa was out of the race. We crossed the line and into the second lap.

"Thanks for the hand there Jackson!" Spencer yelled, switching to his huge spear. "But now it's your turn."

"Steer!" I yelled to Theo.

Theo didn't even both to throw his bow over his shoulder this time. He just dropped it and it tumbled out the back. He grabbed the reins. I drew Marianas and switched to trident mode just in time to catch Spencer's spear attack. Up ahead, Katherine and James had just rounded the first post, Augustus and Jake right behind them. Their mechanical horses were breathing green flames: Greek fire. I knew it was only a matter of time before Katherine and James would be forced to bail.

Meanwhile, Theo and I were dealing with issues of our own. Spencer's strikes were relentless, and his spear was long enough that he could keep us far enough back that our wheel spikes would be useless. But then a stroke of luck came our way. I caught one of Spencer's spear strikes between two of my trident points. Without waiting a second, I twisted, breaking the spear. Spencer cursed and dropped the wooden shaft. He went to draw one of his other weapons, but I was too fast. The training I'd done with my trident last summer had paid off. I blasted apart his and Xavier's right wheel, and their chariot toppled.

Up ahead, Katherine and James were finally forced to bail. They leaped from the sides of their chariot, which went careening to the side in a green inferno. Campers in that section of the stands screamed and ran away. Luckily, there was a team of Hephaestus campers on hand to handle any Greek-fire-related incidents.

Augustus and Jake were now in first, and Theo and I were in second. It wasn't good enough. Theo read my mind and spurred our horses faster. We flew ahead. As we passed by James and Katherine, still trying to clamber to their feet, I heard Katherine yell, "Kick his ass, Elizabeth!"

I intended to do so. "When we catch up, pull to their right side!" I yelled to Theo.

"I was planning on it!" he shouted back.

Only a few feet before the second post, we caught up with Augustus and Jake. "Hey, Gus!" I yelled, and lashed out with my trident. He caught the strike on the lance he was holding.

"Hey there, Beth!" he replied, launching a counter-attack as we rounded the post. "Lovely day isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's a great day to win a chariot race," I said.

"Couldn't agree more."

"Hey!" Jake yelled. "Less flirting, more fighting!"

I felt my face heat up red, but the combination of the helmet I was wearing and the red paint that covered me hid it well. Augustus sputtered slightly at his teammate. I used the opportunity to blast apart his wheel. Was it unsportsmanlike? Maybe. Did I care? No. Jake and Augustus crashed, and we pulled into the lead.

"Yes!" Theo yelled. "Home stretch! We've got this, Elizabeth!"

Which, of course, was the worst thing he could say. I glanced behind us briefly, and saw Augustus thrust out his hand. "Shit!" I yelled. A blast of wind slammed upwards on the bottom of our chariot. It flipped and shattered. I slammed to the ground, rolling for several feet. When I finally came to a stop, I was really sore. It's never fun to get tossed around while wearing armor. Leaves some nasty bruises. I groaned as I sat up. Theo had come to a stop a few feet in front of me. He looked banged up, too, but still okay. Ronan and Delilah were struggling to their hooves, still harnessed to the remains of our chariot. Ronan was cursing up a storm.

Suddenly, a chariot sped past us. It was Mike and Violet. The entire time Theo and I had been pulling fancy tricks to get in the lead, Mike and Violet had been steadily gaining. I turned back towards Augustus and Jake, blazing with anger. If Augustus hadn't lashed out like that, Theo and I would've won. You weren't supposed to attack other teams after you were out of the race. As the crowd of cheering campers gathered around Mike and Violet, who had just pulled to a stop across the finish line, I clambered to my feet and stalked over to Augustus, ripping off my helmet as I went.

Theo managed to climb to his feet and followed. "Elizabeth, calm down, there's always next time."

"You!" I yelled at Augustus, who was standing off to the side, examining his wrecked chariot. He turned towards me and ripped off his own helmet. He looked almost as angry as I felt. "That was a dick move Augustus! The race was ours! But, no, _you_ had to be a sore loser!"

" _I_ had the dick move!?" he shouted back. "You were the one who attacked me while I was distracted!"

" _That's a legitimate strategy and you know it_!" I yelled. I was right up in his face now. "What you did was cheap and uncalled for!"

Suddenly, there was a flash of purple light, and Augustus and I flew apart. When I tried to stand back up, I found that I couldn't. I was wrapped in grape vines. "Enough!" Dionysus roared. "It's bad enough that I have to be around all you brats, but behavior like this is unacceptable!"

"Mr. D," Chiron said warningly, trotting up to the director.

"Bah!" Mr. D spat. He snapped his fingers and the grape vines disappeared. He turned to Chiron. "I won't be at dinner tonight. Try and contain the hoodlums without me."

And he stormed off. Theo helped me to my feet. A few yards away, Jake was pulling Augustus up too. I shot Augustus one last glare, but I didn't miss the warning look on Chiron's face. I backed down, and allowed Theo to drag me over to the crowd of campers celebrating around Mike and Violet. Mike spotted me and flashed me a cocky smile. "Looks like you owe me ten drachma."

Katherine materialized at my side. "Gods, he's going to be insufferable."

I managed a small chuckle, though I was still fuming at what Augustus did. Chiron had trotted back over to the crowd. "Well done Mike and Violet! As promised, your laurel wreaths!" The crowd parted to let Chiron through as he place a wreath on each of their heads. Violet beamed, and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek.

"And now, it is time for the victory feast!" Chiron announced. With a cheer, the crowd hoisted Mike and Violet on their shoulders and carted them off towards the dining pavilion.

I had to admit, that even though losing kinda sucked, the celebration feast was amazing. The wood nymphs had really outdone themselves. Katherine and I dug into our drachma supplies and paid Mike his money. Everything was going pretty well, until my phone rang. But it wasn't just my phone.

Simultaneously, everyone's phone went off all at once. Everyone stopped talking instantly. The sound of two hundred phones going off at once was really quite eerie. Some of the ringtones harmonized, others clashed. I pulled my phone out of my pocket at the same time everyone else did, creating the noise of two hundred people shuffling. On the screen of my phone were the words "Video Call from Unknown Number." I glanced over at Mike and Katherine's phones, and theirs said the same thing. Someone was calling everyone at camp at the same time.

* * *

 **AN: And there we go! The first real cliffhanger of book 2. Anyway, I'll see you guys in a few days!**


	5. Chapter 5: Jocelyn Shows Me Facebook

**AN: Hey guys! A bit later at night than usual, but here's the next chapter! I want to thank everyone who has been involved in this story in any way at all. I really appreciate it :)**

 **Also, I would say that I'm sorry about that cliffhanger I left you guys with last time, but I'm really not, haha. I don't really have anything else to tell you guys this time, so enjoy the chapter! DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Jocelyn Shows Me Facebook

"Well someone has to press answer," I said. I had a feeling I knew who was calling. It looked like I'd found my hint to what Gaius was up to. I pressed answer. Simultaneously, everyone's screen lit up. It wasn't Gaius, but I did recognize the woman on the screen.

She was pretty in a haughty sort of way. You could tell by looking at her that she thought she was better than just about everyone else. Her hair was blonde with blue highlights. Her eyes were sea green, kind of like my dad's, except they lacked any of his kindness. Instead, there was a sadistic glint. She wore bronze armor, and at her side hung a strange, twisted sword. I hadn't thought about the dream I'd had last year in a long time, but I knew for sure that this woman was one of the people working closely with Gaius.

"Hello, Camp Half-Blood!" she said. "I do hope that I've called you all at a convenient time. Can everyone hear me alright?" No one moved a muscle or made a sound, we were all too stunned. How had someone hacked all of our phones at once? A thoughtful expression crossed the woman's face. "Oh, I suppose you couldn't answer me, either way. This is a one-way call. Ah, well. I'll just assume that everything is set up properly."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little bit of movement over at the Hephaestus table, but I didn't pay it any attention. I was too focused on the phone in my hand.

"Anyway," the woman continued, "you're probably wondering who I am. I know that's what I'd be wondering if I were you. My name is Marina, and I have a proposition for you, Camp Half-Blood." The camera panned to the left, away from Marina, and focusing on a figure in the background. He was slumped sideways in a plain metal chair. Thick chains encircled his body, and a gag was stuffed in his mouth. There was a nasty purple lump on his forehead, and cuts of varying severity covered every open space of skin that we could see. His golden hair was filthy and hung in matted clumps around his face. I wouldn't have been entirely surprised if blood was the cause of the matting. Even in his horrible state, I recognized him. I had been right, Alex de Marco's quest did have something to do with Athena's warning. But what? What role did his family have in all this?

Several people gasped. There were even one or two isolated screams. The Zeus campers reacted exceptionally poorly. A couple of them dropped their phones. Augustus swore loudly. The youngest one, a boy no more than eight, began to cry. Vanessa went chalky white.

The camera panned back over to Marina. "As you can see," she went on, "I am currently holding Alex de Marco, son of Zeus, captive. Now, I could just kill him. After all, demigod blood has some very powerful magic in it, and would certainly help a couple of friends of mine who are working on a very complicated spell right now. But I don't think I'll kill him just yet. Instead, I'll give you an opportunity to give me a better offer. Camp Half-Blood is in possession of some extremely powerful magical artifacts. In five days' time, I will call back, and this time it will be a two way call. I will hear your offer, and if it doesn't impress me, well… I have executed people before. Ta-ta!"

Suddenly, everyone's screen went dark. "Call ended" flashed up on my phone. There was dead silence. Then the whole camp erupted into chaos. Almost everyone was yelling, trying to make their voices heard. It was even more chaotic than when my prophecy had been revealed the previous summer. I glanced over at Mike and Katherine. None of us were yelling. We all shared an uneasy look, and I wondered if they were feeling the same way I was: guilty. None of us had made our disdain for Alex particularly secret. Now, it was very possible he would die soon.

Finally, Chiron managed to reign in the noise: "Silence!" And suddenly, there was. Chiron went on, "I understand how distressing this is –"

"Distressing?" Vanessa said incredulously from the Zeus table. She stood up. She and Alex looked remarkably alike. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed they were twins. As it was, anyone could tell they were full siblings. Vanessa looked devastated, and also incredibly angry. "My brother is being held by some psychotic bitch! That's a bit more than distressing!"

Murmurs of agreement rolled throughout the dining pavilion. A high British voice rang out from the Athena table. "And what exactly do you plan to do about it?" Elesa also stood up. "It's terrible that Alex was taken captive by this Marina woman, whoever she is, but there's no point in complaining about how upset you are. What we need is a plan of action."

Vanessa opened her mouth to respond, but Spencer from the Ares cabin called out, "She's right. This circumstance requires action, not moping around and whining."

"We already know what we need to do!" Vanessa retorted. "We gather all the magical items here at camp, and when that woman calls us back we offer her things until she agrees to release Alex." There was a cheer of "yeah" from the Zeus table, but I noticed that Augustus stayed conspicuously silent. Perhaps he realized just how dumb an idea that was.

"Oh yes, that would definitely work out," Helen said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "Let's give a sinister woman, who by her own admission is working with people trying to cast a powerful magical spell, whatever magic item she wants. That will definitely work out well for all of us. Come on, use your head!"

"So you're saying to just leave him?!" Vanessa said angrily.

"No one is suggesting that," Chiron told her calmly. "But we have to be smart about this. To give into this woman's every demand is to give her power over us."

"Not to mention that we have no guarantee that she won't just kill Alex anyway," Xavier pointed out. As usual, he wore all black. Half of his hair was spiked up, the other half hung over the left side of his face in a sort of asymmetric hair style. "If I were inclined to holding and torturing captives – and Alex did look like he'd been tortured – I would not be inclined to keep promises."

"So what are we going to do?" Vanessa asked, somewhat hysterically.

"Well that's simple, isn't it?" Mike said, speaking up for the first time. "We need to organize a rescue mission." I had been thinking the same thing, but I'd felt too awkward to say anything. I wasn't entirely sure what role I was supposed to have in all this, and didn't know whether my voice would be welcomed.

Vanessa glared at Mike. "Why do you care about Alex? I thought you hated him?"

Mike sighed. "Look, we didn't get along, but I don't want him dead. We should do everything we can to rescue him."

"And I suppose you want to lead the rescue mission," Vanessa said disdainfully.

Mike shook his head. "No, of course not. I probably shouldn't be the one to do that. But we should send one out."

"As much as I hate to agree with a son of Poseidon, he's right," Elesa said. "A rescue mission would be our best option. But we do have one problem: where would the rescue mission start? Where would they go? We don't have any leads."

Jake cleared his throat. "If I could interject, I might have a solution to that. When that video message came in, I started running tracking software. I should have the source of the message in a few hours' time."

"Hold on, now," Xavier said. "Let's be careful here. Is it wise to risk more demigod lives on a rescue mission we don't know will succeed? Perhaps this is part of the quest he had: to get captured. If this is part of his fate, do we really want to risk more lives? Of course, if we knew what his prophecy was…" He looked pointedly at Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn crossed her arms. "The prophecy was Alex's, not everyone else's. It is _not_ my place to tell you what his prophecy said."

"And we aren't going to just leave him to die," Vanessa said, as if daring anyone to argue with her. "Marina said we only have five days until she executes him. We need to act! If we're sending a rescue mission, then I'm going to lead it."

Augustus stood up. I looked at him, perplexed. Then I realized what was about to happen. Augustus did have a role to play in this, just like Athena predicted. "No, Vanessa. You shouldn't lead the quest. You're too emotional right now. You'll just get yourself killed. Besides, the others need you. You're the closest thing this cabin has to a head counselor." For most of the other cabins, that might not have been such a huge deal, but there were a couple of really young kids in the Zeus cabin. "I'll lead the quest in your place."

Vanessa looked like she wanted to argue, but Gus had made too much sense. Chiron looked alarmed. "Augustus –"

"Chiron, I can do this," he said firmly. "I can save Alex. I don't know how, but I know that it's supposed to be me."

Chiron looked distraught. Another child of the seven was going on a quest for the second year in a row. This must've been the exact thing he wanted to avoid most of all. Nevertheless, he managed to say, "Very well, Augustus, you shall have your quest."

Gwendolyn cleared her throat. "Well not technically a quest. A rescue mission. I don't have a prophecy to give you. Whatever your destiny is, it's entwined with Alex's now."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me what Alex's prophecy was?" he asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," Gwendolyn said.

Augustus sighed and bowed his head. He kept it bowed for three seconds – I counted – then he looked back up, his face set. He looked like a leader. "I get to take two partners, right?"

Chiron nodded. "That is traditionally the case."

Gus ran a hand through his chocolate hair. "Well obviously I'll need your help Jake. You sure you can track that video message back to its source?"

"Easy as pie," Jake said. "Plus, I've got a car. That'll help with the transportation bit."

Augustus nodded. "Good. Happy to have you on board, dude." I wondered vaguely who else Augustus was going to take. He had a lot of friends here at camp. But mostly, I wanted to talk to Chiron about Marina. He needed to know that she worked with Gaius. But the next word out of Gus's mouth made me forget, momentarily, that I wanted to talk to Chiron. "Elizabeth?"

I blinked. Augustus's blue eyes were a strange mix of emotions. "What?" I asked, perplexed.

"Will you come with me?" he asked. I was pretty sure I saw fear in his eyes. Whether it was fear of me saying no, or fear about the quest, I wasn't sure.

"Yeah," I found myself saying. "Yeah, I'll go with you." Suddenly, I felt galvanized. This was exactly the chance I needed to find out exactly what Gaius and his crew were up to. I would finally be getting the answers I so desperately wanted. Or at least, I hoped so. But I still wondered why Augustus wanted me to come. If our confrontation on the track earlier showed anything, it was that we still butted heads.

Chiron sighed. "Very well, that will be all. Everyone, you are dismissed!" People sat stunned for a moment, but then stood up and began leaving the dining pavilion. I made my way over to where Augustus and Jake were talking with Chiron.

"I just need a few more hours for the tracking software to finish," Jake was saying. "If Marina had stayed on longer, I might already have the location. As it is, the software is going to need a little while."

Augustus nodded. "That's fine. Just give me a call as soon as it finishes. We're limited on time, so I want to get going as soon as possible."

Chiron cleared his throat. "Make sure you come to the Big House before you leave."

Augustus nodded. "Will do, Chiron."

Chiron and I shared a look. The message was clear: we'd talk later. He nodded to me, then galloped back off to the Big House. Jake turned to Augustus. "Well, I better go back and catch some z's while I can. I'll call you when the software tracks Marina down."

Gus turned to me and gave me a small smile. "Thanks for agreeing to come, Elizabeth."

I shrugged. "Sure thing, no big deal." But it was an obvious lie. It was a quest. Of course it was a big deal.

"You're wondering why I asked you," Augustus said. "Why I asked you and not one of my other friends."

"How'd you know that?"

"Because I know you better than you think I do," Augustus replied. It seemed like that was a common theme between me and other people. He sighed. "The truth is, Elizabeth, despite the fact that we fight a lot, I trust you. I trust you more than I trust anyone else here. We've known each other our whole lives. If I can't rely on you, who can I rely on?"

It was a surprisingly touching thing to say. He was right, we did fight a lot. For a few years, we hadn't been friends at all. And even though we were friends again, our relationship was pretty complicated. The fight we'd had during the chariot race had been testament to that. "I appreciate the trust," I said quietly.

Augustus smiled again, but his expression quickly became serious. "You should get your things together. And turn up your phone volume. I'll give you a call when Jake finishes tracing the signal."

I nodded. "Okay. See you in a little while." I left the dining pavilion. When I glanced back, Augustus was sitting at the Zeus table alone, staring out over the Sound.

* * *

"Thought we'd find you here," came a familiar voice. I turned slightly from where I was sitting on the beach to see Theo and Jocelyn approaching me. They sat down on either side of me, and stared out over the water. The moon was rising, and its reflection in the water was really quite beautiful.

"Hey guys," I said. "What's up?"

Jocelyn stroked her chin. "How far up are we talking?"

I rolled my eyes. "Hilarious. Seriously though, why are you guys here?"

"Do you really have to ask that, Elizabeth?" Theo asked. "You're our best friend, and you're about to leave on a quest without us. Why do you think we're here?"

I frowned slightly. "I wish I was going with you guys. Augustus is great and all, but… You guys are my best friends, too. And I don't even know Jake."

We all sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Jocelyn spoke up, "Well, if we're done being mopey, I have some information that you might be interested in." She pulled out her phone and passed it to me. An old webpage with a blue banner across the top popped up. It read "Facebook." There was a photograph of Erin Cross in the left hand corner underneath a larger photo of Erin and Luke Castellan in front of a sunset.

"You found her," I said in awe.

Theo let out a low whistle. "Nice work, Joce!"

Jocelyn smirked. "Well I am the daughter of Hermes. Did you expect anything less? Anyway, that picture across the top – called the cover photo by the way – was how I finally found her. It was posted in May, the year you said it should be. About a month before that, she changed her relationship status from 'single' to 'in a relationship.'" She scrolled down the page to show me the post. "But I don't think Luke ever had a Facebook, because otherwise there would have been a link to his profile."

I nodded. "Makes sense. Technology wasn't very demigod friendly until Uncle Leo started Eta Electronics."

"So who was she?" Theo asked. "As like… a person?"

"Well, when she and Luke met, she was twenty," Jocelyn informed us. "She was a student at University of California, San Francisco. She was there on scholarship for Psychology. I don't think she really had a family to speak of. Anyway, she posted occasionally about struggling to pay rent on her apartment and keep up with her studies, but from what I could tell, she was pretty optimistic about the whole thing."

"So she met Luke and then what?" I prompted.

"Well, her relationship status said 'in a relationship' until June," Jocelyn said. "But then it changed to 'it's complicated.'" She scrolled up and showed me the post. "But she kept that cover photo for another year. And I think you'll want to see what she changed it to." Jocelyn tapped a few things on the screen. The image changed, displaying Erin's Facebook page from a year later. This time, the cover photo showed her holding a baby wrapped in white blankets. It looked like she was in the hospital. The baby's eyes were gold.

"Gaius," I said gravely.

"Those eyes are really creepy in a baby's face," Theo said.

"Yeah, they are," Jocelyn agreed. "And he must have adopted the name Gaius later in life, because that's not what Erin named him. Take a look." Jocelyn scrolled down to a post dated June 10th. It must've been from when she'd first uploaded the cover photo, because that same photo was there again.

Erin had written, _Meet Lukas Robert Cross. I've only known him for a few hours, but I already love him more than anything else in the whole world. I wish his father could be here. He'd be so proud._

I frowned. "She named him after Luke?"

"Apparently," Jocelyn said. "Interestingly, her relationship was still listed as 'it's complicated' at that point, and it was well after Luke was possessed by Kronos. "

"And that's from June, right?" I said. "If we go back nine months we get… what? September? That fits, I guess. Luke would've been Kronos by then. But how did he gain control of his body long enough to go see Erin and conceive Gaius?"

Jocelyn shrugged. "Can't tell you. Nothing about that showed up on her Facebook."

I thought about that for a second, but I knew that the answer wasn't just going to come to me. "When did she change her relationship status back to single?" I asked.

"I'm glad you asked that," Jocelyn said. "That's one of the more interesting parts." Jocelyn scrolled through the Facebook feed until a new post came up. It read _Erin Cross has changed her relationship status to single_. "Look at the date," Jocelyn instructed.

I did, and suddenly my throat dried up. "August eighteenth."

"Whoa," Theo said. "Wait a sec, isn't that the day your dad beat Kronos?"

I nodded. "Which means –"

"Which means that somehow, Erin knew when Luke died," Jocelyn finished. "It would certainly seem that way."

Theo and I sat in silence, taking that in. How was that possible? Theo finally spoke up, "So what happened with her after that?"

"Well she managed to finish her degree, even while raising the baby," Jocelyn said. "An impressive feat even now, but especially back then when maternity leave wasn't a mandated thing and healthcare was ridiculously expensive. She ended up moving into a small house in the San Fran suburbs, got a job at the local counseling center."

"So do you know where she is now?" I asked. If I could go question her, it would help a lot with understanding Gaius.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Jocelyn said. I felt a surge of excitement. "She's in St. Augustine's Cemetery in San Francisco."

My excitement instantly deflated. "She's dead?"

Jocelyn nodded. "Died when Gaius – I mean, Lukas Robert – was eight."

Theo gaped. "What happened? Did she get in an accident or have a heart attack or something?"

Jocelyn tapped away at her screen. "Hold on, I've got the news story on here."

"Just give us the highlights," I said, rather shorter than I had intended to be.

Jocelyn raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Instead, she put her phone away. "Well, I suppose it was an accident of sorts. One day, out of the blue, Erin's house exploded. When the police showed up, they found two bodies. One was Erin's, the other was a man named Alabaster Torrington."

"Who's Alabaster Torrington?" Theo asked.

"No clue," Jocelyn said. "I did a lot of digging, and I couldn't find _anything_ on him. Like, not a single trace on the internet."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I thought you said that everyone left a trace on the internet?"

"Almost everyone does," Jocelyn said. "But I may have an idea as to why he might not have any trace. I think he was a demigod. It would explain why he didn't have any online presence. And if he kept associations with normal mortals to a minimum, he could have avoided showing up on any of their pages either."

"Okay, so what?" Theo asked. "Alabaster was her new boyfriend or something?"

Jocelyn frowned. "Unlikely. She probably would've posted about it online if he was. No, I think he went to her house for a very specific reason, and for the first time, that day, but I couldn't tell you why."

It seemed like the more answers we got, the more questions were raised. "So I guess Gaius was at school at the time. Otherwise the explosion would have killed him, too."

Jocelyn shook her head. "No, he was there."

" _What?_ "

"When emergency services showed up, they found him perfectly fine, but unconscious," Jocelyn said. "It was almost like something was protecting him from the explosion."

"Did they ever find out the cause of the explosion?" Theo asked.

Jocelyn shook her head again. "Police never figured out what caused it. At first they thought it might've been a gas explosion, but that was ruled out. Eventually, the case was dropped."

"So what happened to Gaius?" I asked.

"Ended up in an orphanage. And then, only a couple years later, he dropped off the map entirely. No records of what happened to him. He never got adopted, as far as I can tell, so I can only assume that he ended up running away."

"So how did an orphaned ten year old end up with an army at his disposal and the knowledge and power to pull all of this off?" I wondered.

Jocelyn shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Hopefully your dreams from your grandmother will give you some answers."

The three of us sat in silence a few more minutes, watching the moon climb steadily higher into the sky. Finally, Theo spoke up. "Elizabeth, please be as careful as possible. I mean, I know quests are inherently dangerous, but this time Joce and I won't be there to watch your back. So just watch out."

"And watch that temper of yours," Jocelyn added. "Especially if you meet any gods. I don't know how many more you can afford to piss off."

I smiled a little bit. "I'll do my best. Thanks for coming down here guys."

"What are friends for?" Theo asked.

And with that we all lay back against the sand, stargazing and enjoying each other's company.

* * *

 **AN: Alright guys, see you on Tuesday!**


	6. Chapter 6: I Leave on a Deadly Road Trip

**AN: Hey guys! I'm back again with another chapter. This one is a bit on the shorter side, but I don't like making chapters long just for the sake of making them long. I prefer to cut them off in places that feel natural to me. But I am sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual.** **As always, thank you for your support. I've really appreciated it.**

 **One important thing that I want to say is about me posting the next chapter. This week, I have two essays due, so I'll be putting in a good deal of time into working on those and _may_ not have the time to get chapter 7 finished and edited. With any luck, I'll be able to give you guys a second chapter this week, but in case I'm unable to, I wanted you guys to know why.**

 **Okay, I think that's it. Enjoy the chapter. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 6: I Leave on a Deadly Road Trip

Finally, I dreamed again. Athena didn't give me an introduction this time, I just showed up right in the scene. I was on a beach, and a little ways away, Erin and Luke stood. They'd apparently asked some passerby to take a photo of them, because they were posing in front of the sunset while another person took a picture of them. I wandered over towards them.

"Thank you so much," Erin said, taking her phone back from the person. It looked ancient. I was surprised that phones back then could take pictures at all.

"No problem," the man said. "Have a good evening."

He strode off down the beach. I stayed with Luke and Erin. They were both looking at the picture on the screen. I recognized it as the cover photo from Erin's Facebook profile.

* * *

The dream changed. Now, it was fully night, though whether it was the same day or a few days or weeks later, I wasn't sure. I didn't think it was that much longer though. If I understood the information Jocelyn had gathered correctly, Luke and Erin had only really been together for two months.

The street was empty, and I was outside a movie theater. I wondered vaguely whether I should go in; surely Erin and Luke were inside. But then there was a flash of light, and suddenly a girl appeared. She was pretty, but for some reason, she was wearing a charred Goode High cheerleader's outfit. I had just been to orientation there before coming to camp. The cheerleaders there had been wearing identical outfits.

The doors to the theater opened, spilling people into the night, talking excitedly about the movie they'd just seen. The girl in the cheerleader outfit was looking around, as if trying to spot someone very particular in the crowd, and I had a feeling I knew who. Sure enough, the sound of Luke's voice caused both of our heads to snap in the same direction. Luke was laughing. He sounded so happy. And when I spotted him, smiling with his arm wrapped around Erin… well I couldn't help but wonder why Luke had sacrificed himself to revive Kronos.

The cheerleader growled at the sight of the happy couple. For a split second, her appearance changed. She wasn't very pretty in that split second. She had flaming hair, red eyes, fangs, and mismatched legs – one a donkey's and one bronze. She turned back into a cheerleader almost instantly, but I understood what she was. She was an empousa.

"There you are," she purred at Luke.

He turned towards the voice, and instantly the happiness on his face vanished. He looked stony. Erin looked back and forth between the empousa and her boyfriend. "Honey?" she asked. "Who's this? What's wrong?"

Luke looked like he was trying to swallow a bowling ball. "Her name's Kelli. I work with her." He turned his next words to the empousa. "I didn't know you knew to find me here."

Kelli sneered. "Oh, the master is well aware of you and your little _whore_."

" _Excuse me?!_ " Erin snapped. She strode forward and cocked back her fist, ready to deck the empousa. Sure, she was mortal and couldn't possibly understand that she was about to deck a monster, but even so, I couldn't help but admire the girl's bravery.

Luke jumped between them and stopped Erin. "Erin, don't. You don't want to find out what she's capable of," he added grimly. "Please, let me handle this."

Kelli laughed. "Yes, mortal. Let the grownups talk."

Erin looked both confused and offended. "Mortal? What's that supposed to mean?"

Kelli grinned maliciously. "You mean he hasn't told you? Your precious boyfriend has told you the truth about who he is and what he does?"

"Enough!" Luke ordered. Kelli shut up, but she looked very pleased with herself. Erin was looking at Luke with uncertainty. Luke sighed. He looked at Erin, then back at Kelli, trying to decide who to address first. Finally, he decided on Kelli. "Why are you here?"

"You're needed back at headquarters," Kelli said, examining her nails. "Percy Jackson is on his way back to camp. The master will want to move soon."

Luke's face suddenly went sheet white. "Fine," he croaked. "I'll be along in an hour." Kelli opened her mouth to say something, but Luke cut her off. "One hour. Kronos has waited thousands of years, he can wait a little longer."

"He will punish you," Kelli warned, though she didn't seem particularly concerned about it. In fact, it seemed like she wanted Luke to get punished to remind him of what he was supposed to be doing.

"One hour," Luke repeated firmly.

Kelli shrugged. "Suit yourself, _sir_." Then she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What was that about?" Erin demanded. "Why did she call me mortal? Who is Kronos? Did she just disappear in a puff of smoke?" Luke opened his mouth to respond, but Erin cut him off. "The truth this time, Luke. The whole thing."

Luke sighed. "The truth is very dangerous," he warned. "I've been trying to protect you from the truth. I care too much about you to see you get hurt."

"I can take care of myself," Erin insisted. "I can handle whatever truth you're keeping from me. But I need you to tell me. Otherwise, you can consider us done." She had tears in her eyes as she said the last part, but she looked very much like she meant it.

Luke sighed. "Erin, there may not be a choice anymore. In a few weeks, I'll probably be… gone anyway. But I – I don't want this to end with you angry at me. I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else. Ever. What I'm about to tell you big. Promise me that you won't tell anyone, and I'll tell you the truth."

"I promise," Erin said quickly.

Luke sighed. "Alright, let's go talk in your car. I don't want to risk anyone overhearing."

* * *

The dream shifted. Now I was standing in some kind of fortress. The walls were made of black marble. It still seemed to be under construction, because there was no roof. Above, the sky churned and swirled like a top. It looked like a massive storm hanging over the structure. If I had to take a guess, I'd say I was in the titan's fortress: Mount Othrys.

I was in a large room, perhaps the entrance to the fortress. Monsters and demigods moved about, coming and going, sharpening weapons, tightening straps on their armor. Kelli stood next to the big doors that could only be the front entrance. She was still wearing her charred cheerleader outfit, so I figured it was later in the evening on the same day. Suddenly, the doors opened, and Luke came striding through. His eyes were rimmed in red. This time, he had his sword on him.

"You're late," Kelli said nonchalantly.

"It doesn't matter," Luke snapped. "I'm here."

"I do hope that that mortal isn't causing you to doubt your role," Kelli commented.

Luke set his jaw. "I will play my part. Are the telkhines here?"

Kelli gave a high whistle, and a couple of dog-seal-people things waddled through one of the other doorways. Each of them were seven feet tall. I'd never seen monsters like them before, but I assumed they were the telkhines that Luke had referred to. Luke drew his sword. It glinted wickedly, half celestial bronze, half mortal steel. For a wild second, I thought he was about to attack the telkhines, but instead, he shifted the blade so he was holding it horizontally and held it reverently in both hands. He made to hand it to the telkhines, but he hesitated for a moment.

"You're sure there's no other way?" Luke asked.

Kelli rolled her eyes. One of the telkhines responded, "In order to reforge the scythe, we require all of its essence. We cannot do that while the sword holds such a large part of it."

"I understand," Luke said. "It's just… I've been through a lot with this sword."

"Stop being sentimental," Kelli chastised. "Give them the sword." Luke handed over the sword to the telkhines. With a bow, they left through the front doors, no doubt off to reforge Kronos's scythe. "You would do well to adjust your behavior," Kelli said to Luke. "The others will not follow you if you continue to show weakness."

"I told you, I would do what needed to be done," Luke said stiffly. "Now if there isn't anything else, I have to prepare the party for going into the Labyrinth."

"There is one other thing, actually," Kelli said. "About that mortal you've become so enamored with."

Luke scowled. "Leave her alone."

"Oh, don't worry," Kelli said. "We aren't going to hurt her. No, the master is generous. He will allow you to see her one more time, as long as you do what he says."

A spark of hope ignited in Luke's eyes. "What does he want me to do?"

Kelli smiled cruelly. The whole world seemed to shake, and I snapped awake.

* * *

I looked around my dark cabin, completely disoriented. Mike and Katherine were still fast asleep. Meanwhile, my cell phone was vibrating madly on my pillow. I managed to pull my hand out from under my blankets and grabbed my phone. I flipped it over, and was temporarily blinded by the bright screen. Gods, I hated waking up.

The phone's screen informed me that it was a call from Augustus Grace. I pressed answer and groggily whispered, "What?"

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

I groaned. "It's the middle of the night. Of course you woke me."

"Sorry," Gus repeated. "But listen, Jake finally tracked the signal back. Are you ready to go?"

I sighed and rolled out of my bunk. The cool night air slapped my exposed skin as I pulled on my jeans and a camp t-shirt. I also grabbed my black hoodie. It was a little chilly. "Yeah, I packed my things before I went to bed," I whispered back. "I'll meet you guys up at the Big House."

"Alright, see you in a few minutes," Gus said. I hung up the phone and slipped it into my pocket. I pulled on my backpack, strapped my sword around my waist, and began striding towards the door, careful not to wake my cabin mates.

As I walked by them, I felt a twinge of sadness. I was really looking forward to spending more time with them. Hopefully, I'd see them again soon, but you could never be sure with quests. This could go on much longer than the five – no, four now – days that it was supposed to. _I might not even come back at all_ , I thought darkly.

I exited the cabin and was immediately grateful for the hoodie. As I walked towards the Big House, I thought about my most recent dream. Did Luke really tell Erin Cross the truth? Did she believe him? If so, what had she told their son? Had Luke told Erin an anti-god version of the story? Because if that was the version that Gaius had grown up with… Well I supposed that might explain why he was so determined to destroy the gods.

And what had the empousa meant about Luke being able to see Erin one more time? Had it all been part of Kronos's plan? I'd thought that Luke might have somehow gained control of his body long enough to go see his girlfriend, and that Gaius had accidentally resulted from that rendezvous. But a terrible idea occurred to me now. What if Kronos had intentionally meant to get Erin pregnant?

But… why? Why would he do that? What did he have to gain? If the gods were any indicator, Kronos didn't have very good luck when it came to his children. Why would he risk having another child? And what did he hope to achieve by doing so? If Kronos had succeeded in destroyin the gods, it wouldn't have mattered, would it? And I doubted he had planned on being beaten.

I growled in frustration. There were too many missing pieces.

Augustus and Jake were waiting for me on the porch. Both had backpacks slung over their shoulders. Augustus had his new sword strapped to his waist. Jake wasn't bringing any traditional weapon, but he did have a heavy metal hammer dangling from his belt, which I figured would do _plenty_ well against monsters.

Chiron and Gwendolyn were there, too. Gwendolyn had her hands wrapped around a mug of coffee, and her green hair was ruffled, like she'd just woken up. Chiron looked more alert. He clopped nervously on his hooves. When I got up to the porch, he smiled sadly at me, then turned to Augustus. "Proceed cautiously," he warned. "There is deep danger here."

Gus nodded. "We'll be careful. We'll make it back with Alex before you can even miss us."

"Do not be overconfident," Chiron added. "Too often, over confidence is the downfall of heroes. Jake?"

"Yeah?" the son of Hephaestus grunted.

"Drive safely. Time is of the essence if you are to rescue Alex, but don't push yourself too hard. You are the only driver of the group. If you have to rest, rest. You know your destination?"

Jake nodded. "I tracked the signal back to a radio tower in the far north of Maine. Should be able to make it there in less than two days, even with stops."

Chiron nodded, but he still looked uneasy. "Very well. Safe journeys. Now, would you two go around to the car? Elizabeth and I should speak privately before you leave."

Jake and Augustus sent me questioning glances, but obeyed Chiron and left around the corner of the porch. I took a seat at the table next to Gwendolyn, who smiled weakly at me. Chiron frowned at me. "You wanted to speak to me, correct?"

I nodded, remembering that I'd wanted to tell him about Marina. "Yeah, I know something about the woman who's holding Alex de Marco. She works with Gaius, Chiron."

Chiron nodded. "I feared as much. But perhaps there's a bright spot."

"What's that?" I asked.

"He means that if Gaius is involved in this, you can find out more about him," Gwendolyn said. "And we need as much intel on him as possible. We know he wants to destroy the gods – you told us that much – but how does he plan on doing it? And what is he up to now? Maybe you can find out some of these answers."

I nodded. "I hope so. Listen, I also had a dream…" I told Chiron and Gwendolyn about my dream and about the information that Jocelyn had found out. "And it concerns me," I said, "because… well, you don't think Kronos wanted to get her pregnant, do you?"

Chiron stroked his beard. "It makes sense based on what you told me about your dream, but I don't see what the titan lord stood to gain by having a half-mortal child."

I shook my head. "Me neither. But there has to be a reason, right?"

"He was called the Crooked One," Gwendolyn point out. "His plans had layers. His layers had layers. But I agree, it doesn't seem like there were any benefits for him to do that."

"Jake and Augustus need to know," I said. "Gaius is at play here, and I don't want to endanger them by not telling them important information."

Chiron sighed. "Do not tell them immediately. You need to focus on finding Alex. Don't distract them from that. If the time comes that you need to tell them, then tell them."

I sighed in frustration. "But Chiron, how will I know when 'the time comes?'"

"You will know," he said. "Use your best judgement. Good luck, Elizabeth. May the gods be with you."

I frowned, recognizing my dismissal. I found myself in the strange position of being upset at Chiron. Yet, I did recognize the merit in what he'd said. "One last question," I said as I stood up. "Where's the car?"

Gwendolyn chuckled. "Oh yeah, you've never been around to the garage before. Go around to the back of the Big House."

"Thanks," I said.

I strode around the corner of the porch. I'd never been around to the back of the Big House before. When I came around to the back, I found a big garage and a gravel parking lot. The camp vans were parked there, and a few cars, no doubt belonging to campers. A blue car in the center of the parking lot had its lights on. I walked over and climbed in the backseat. Augustus turned around and smiled at me. "Road trip time!" Jake reversed out of the parking spot, and we were off.

I stared out the window, deep in thought. For better or worse, I was leaving camp. And I had a feeling that before long, I would see Gaius again. With any luck, I'd get some answers.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, I'll see you guys next time. And next time, you'll finally get to see a fight with some monsters.**


	7. Chapter 7: Cannibal Truckers Ruin

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry there was only one chapter last week and that it was a relatively uneventful one. But don't worry! This one is exciting! Honestly, this has been one of my favorite chapters to write so far in this book (though the parts I'm really looking forwards to writing are still coming). Anyway, thank you all as always. I appreciate everyone who's reviewed, favorited, followed, or even just read. You guys make it worth trying to balance this and school.**

 **Also, Magnus Chase just came out! Have you guys already started reading it? Let me know what you think in the comments (without spoilers, please). I'll give a short note on my thoughts at the end of the chapter (spoiler free, of course).**

 **Alright, I think that's it from me. I'll see you guys on Friday or Saturday with the next chapter (because I will be able to get two up this week!). DFTBA! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Cannibal Truckers Ruin Our Breakfast

We were in Vermont before we hit our first snag, which was honestly quite impressive. The first few hours of the road trip were mostly uneventful. Gus kept trying to make conversation, but honestly, I was too wrapped up in my thoughts to engage. I kept asking the same question, over and over. Why? Why had Kronos done that? Because the more I thought about it, the more sure I was: Kronos had intentionally gotten Erin Cross pregnant. But what had he stood to gain by doing so? Surely, if he had won the war with the gods, a half mortal son wouldn't have been much use to him. And certainly he hadn't planned to fail. _But what if Gaius was a backup plan?_ I wondered. _What if he had a plan in case he failed?_

Everything I knew about Kronos's second war ran counter to the thought. He had been so sure he'd win. Why would he have made a backup plan? But he was called the Crooked One. Surely, even those who thought they knew his plans, probably didn't know all of them. In which case, was it so unreasonable to think that he might have developed a backup plan? Was it unreasonable to think that maybe, just maybe, he'd wanted to have a child to avenge him, _just in case_?

I wished that I had somebody to bounce the ideas off of, but Gus and Jake didn't know anything about Gaius, and Chiron had basically told me that I wasn't supposed to tell them unless it was absolutely necessary. Did having someone to bounce ideas off of count as absolutely necessary? Almost certainly not. I'd have to think my way through this on my own. Hopefully, I'd have more dreams soon. Maybe then I could get answers.

I sighed. Only gone a few hours and I was wishing I was with Theo and Jocelyn instead of Jake and Augustus. I could've bounced ideas off of Theo and Jocelyn.

"So where are we going again?" Gus asked, his voice muffled by the music in my ear. "You said Maine, right?"

Jake nodded. "Very close to the Canadian border, yeah." I glanced away from the window, pulled out my earbuds, and looked at Jake's profile. He'd been almost as quiet as me so far, though I got the feeling that wasn't unusual. I still knew hardly anything about him, but I felt like he didn't talk much generally. "The GPS coordinates point to the end of a dead end road in the middle of the woods. There's a radio tower there, but nothing else, at least as far as the satellites are concerned."

I leaned forward, deciding that if I was on this quest, participating in discussions pertaining to it were in my best interest. "So do you think there's an underground structure?"

Jake took a hand off the steering to stroke his chin. "Possibly. Or the Mist could be hiding something more. Mortal electronics can be tricked just as well as mortal eyes. Or maybe…"

"Or maybe what?" Augustus asked.

"Never mind," Jake said. "It's probably what I just said." I frowned at him. He was hiding something from us. But I decided not to press the issue. After all, I was hiding something, too. It would've been hypocritical to call him out on it.

Gus furrowed his eyebrows. I could tell that he _was_ going to press the issue, so I interjected. "You said we'd be able to get there in less than two days?"

"Technically, we could get there by late this evening," Jake replied, glancing over his shoulder for a split second to send me a gracious look. "But we should probably stop for the night somewhere. I've got to rest at some point, and if we drove straight there, you two would be hobbling worse than my grandma. You'd be useless against monsters. And I'm good, but I ain't fighting every monster we run into by myself."

"So we stop somewhere for the night," Augustus said, "and get to the radio tower first thing in the morning?"

Jake nodded. I leaned back in my seat and resumed staring out the window. The conversation was over. It was back to thinking time.

"So how's your brother, Elizabeth?" Gus asked, making another attempt at small talk.

I sighed. "Last I saw him, he was fine. But he's probably getting tested by Lupa now, so it's hard to say."

"Do you think we'll be the only two who go to Camp Half-Blood?" I turned away from the window and looked over at him. Gus's face was actually a little worried. Why he cared whether any of the others came to Camp Half-Blood, I wasn't sure. I knew it had been weird for him going somewhere without his twin sister, but I wasn't sure why he was so worried about any of the others.

I furrowed my brow. "Hard to say. Do you think Riley will go to Camp Jupiter next year?"

Augustus nodded. "Oh yeah, almost definitely."

"Then maybe we will be the only two at Camp Half-Blood," I said with a shrug. "I feel like the Zhang girls will probably both go to Camp Jupiter, too. Maybe if Uncle Leo and Aunt Calypso had kids… Why are you so worried about it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It's just weird. Like… we're the legacies of the Seven and… I guess I feel like we'd be letting the Greek side of our heritage down if no one else came to Camp Half-Blood."

I gave him a bemused look. Augustus sure thought in weird ways. I'd always thought of Greece and Rome as two halves of the same whole. It was one Greco-Roman heritage as far as I was concerned. Nevertheless, I tried to reassure him. "Well, Gus, that just means that you and I will have to work extra hard. Make sure we show how great it is to be Greek."

Gus smiled at me. Just that moment, there was a beeping sound. Jake cursed. "What is it?" Augustus asked. "Are we under attack?"

"No, nothing like that," Jake said. "The power cells are running low. I guess I forgot to charge them. We'll have to hop off at the next exit, find a charging station."

"How long will that take?" I asked.

"About half an hour," Jake said. "Not a problem, really, just a bit of a hassle."

"Well then, let's make sure we stop somewhere we can eat," Gus said. "Because I am starving!"

* * *

The next exit led into a tiny Vermont town. We actually had to drive about two miles away from the highway to find a charging station. The little village actually had an old _gas station_. I didn't even know there were still cars that ran off gasoline. But there were a few old vehicles parked there filling up.

Finally, we found a proper power cell charging station, and luckily (for Gus anyway), it was directly across the road from a Denny's. "Excellent!" Augustus said. "I can get some breakfast!"

I scoffed. "It's like… one in the afternoon."

"Denny's serves breakfast all day," Gus argued, then dashed ahead inside to grab us a table.

Jake shrugged. "He's got a point."

I sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get in there before Gus does something to get us banned from all Denny's everywhere."

Jake chuckled.

When we got inside, we found the place deserted. Apparently, one in the afternoon was not a popular time to get Denny's. Only one guys was working, but since we were the only people in there, service was pretty fast. Both Gus and Jake ordered Grand Slam breakfasts. I ordered from the lunch portion of the menu like a civilized person. Don't get me wrong, bacon is my favorite food. But breakfast food was only good in the morning or late at night. Eating breakfast in the middle of the afternoon just seemed wrong.

While we waited for our food, Jake started fiddling with his phone. Like, he wasn't just checking his social media or playing a game or whatever. He was literally fiddling with it; he'd pulled it apart and was tinkering with the tiny mechanisms inside. It was amazing to see how delicate Jake's big hands were with such small parts. Meanwhile, Augustus and I resumed a debate that we'd been having for years.

"I mean, what's cool about a guy who doesn't have any weaknesses?" I asked. "There's no danger! You know he's going to win from the get-go. There's no thrill in that."

"Superman has weaknesses," Gus protested.

I sneered. "Right, Kryptonite. A magical rock from another planet that's Superman's only weakness. And, somehow, miraculously, the villains always manage to get their hands on a huge quantity of it. Talk about having to suspend disbelief."

"Well at least he's actually a superhero," Augustus countered. "Batman's just a lunatic with too much money and too much of an ego."

"Batman is more than that! He fights the corrupt of Gotham because there's no one else to do it. He's using his wealth to fight crime. He's noble. And it's exciting with him, because he _can_ die."

"And he didn't think about giving some money to the Gotham Police Department?" Gus suggested.

"Most of the Gotham PD is corrupt," I said. "He's got to take matters into his own hands. Who else will?"

Augustus rolled his eyes and turned to Jake. "What do you think Jake? Batman or Superman?"

Jake glanced up from his project. "Uh, I'm actually more of a Marvel guy, myself. You know, Iron Man, Captain America, Spiderman, those guys."

I was about to respond when the front door dinged open and three burly guys walked in. Through the windows, I could see a truck that hadn't been there when we entered. Probably the dudes' vehicle. Several more trucks pulled up, out of which several more burly guys poured. "What is this, trucker hour?" I asked quietly. Augustus snorted with laughter.

These guys were pretty ugly, too. And they were covered in tattoos. Not even cool tattoos. Really lame ones, like _Skullcrusher luvs Mom_. Talk about a disaster of a tattoo. And what kind of nickname was "Skullcrusher" anyhow?

I had a bad feeling. By the time the door closed behind the last of the truckers, there were fifteen of them. A vague recollection tugged at the back of my head. I had seen tattoos of that style somewhere before… The answer clicked into place. The laistrygonian giants under Gaius's employ had had very similar tattoos.

"Guys," I whispered, "we have to get out of here. Now."

"But we haven't gotten our food yet," Gus complained.

The large group of truckers weren't waiting for the waiter to come out of the back and give them tables. They were already striding towards us. One of them was carrying a large black sack over his shoulder. I had a feeling the sack didn't contain presents.

"Please, Gus," I whispered again. "I have a bad feeling about those truckers."

Jake had already stowed his phone and its parts away. "Come on, Augustus, don't be an ass. Elizabeth's right."

Augustus glanced up at the truckers now, too, which was hard not to do seeing as they'd taken seats at all the tables near us. He nodded slowly and practically breathed. "Okay, I see your point. Act natural."

Slowly, the three of us stood and made our way over to the door. One of the truckers saw and cut us off. "Hey kiddos," he said, his voice deep and menacing. He was the one with the Skullcrusher tattoo. "Where you off to so fast?" One of his buddies strode to the door and locked it.

"Nowhere in particular," I said, gripping the hilt of my sword, extremely grateful that I'd remembered to bring it in with me. To my left, Jake had already hoisted his hammer. To my right, Gus was mirroring me, gripping the hilt of his own sword. "But I have a good idea where you'll be going, Skullcrusher."

Skullcrusher grinned widely. "Oh yeah? And where's that?"

I was about to respond when the waiter bustled back into the room. "Your food is rea… dy… What's going on here?"

Skullcrusher glanced at the waiter. "Ripper, take care of him."

The trucker called Ripper was the one with the sack. He opened it up, revealing red-hot spheres of celestial bronze. He hoisted one and tossed it at the waiter. The waiter screamed as impending doom hurdled towards him.

Augustus reacted with incredible speed. He thrust out his hand and a powerful gust of wind blew the cannonball off course. It exploded against the wall ten feet from the waiter, sending him sprawling to the side. I used the momentary distraction to my advantage and lashed out with my sword. Skullcrusher was vaporized.

"To answer your last question, Tartarus," I said. "Tartarus is where you're going."

And with that the remaining fourteen laistrygonians lunged at us.

* * *

Honestly, I wasn't really sure when they changed appearance. One minute, they were a bunch of fat, ugly truckers. The next minute, they were so tall their head scraped the ceiling, their skin was bright red, but they were still ugly and fat. Some things don't change when monsters reveal their true form.

The three of us launched into action. Augustus leaped across the room to defend our poor mortal waiter, who was still dazed from the cannonball blast. Jake pounded the nearby giant who'd locked the door in the face with his hammer. I quickly hit the trident button and blasted another one of the monsters to dust.

Meanwhile, Ripper was arming his friends with the flaming cannonballs. They launched a volley at Jake and I. We dove in opposite directions as they exploded against the wall, creating a gaping hole in the front of the Denny's. "Get the car ready to go!" I yelled at Jake. It felt slightly weird ordering him around for two reasons. One, he was two years older than me. Two, I wasn't in charge of this quest, Augustus was. But in the middle of a fight, things like that don't really matter.

"What about Gus?" he shouted back.

"I'll get him and the waiter out," I said. I blasted another cannonball out of the air with my trident. "Just get to the car! We're going to need a speedy getaway!"

Jake nodded and ran out the hole in the side of the building. I was forced to dive behind an overturned table as another cannonball exploded near me. The heat blistered my skin, even from behind the table. Augustus was struggling, too. He'd created a small whirlwind around him and the waiter, keeping all the cannonballs at bay. An impressive trick, but I could tell it was draining him.

The momentary distraction cost me. The table I was hiding behind exploded, sending me flying backwards. I slammed against the wall and hit my head. My vision doubled. Instinctively, I rolled to the right. Just in time, too. Another explosion went off just to my left. From the sound of the blast, I guessed they'd blown a hole through another wall. I staggered to my feet, my vision snapping back to normal.

"Distance definitely won't work," I muttered to myself. "Better get in close so they can't use those stupid cannonballs."

Just as I said that, another cannonball rocketed towards me. Instead of diving to the side, though, I rolled forward, under the explosive. I rocketed to my feet, leaped over a table, and suddenly I was in the midst of the giants. I swirled Marianas around. Mid-swirl, it transformed back into sword mode. I sliced off one giant's arm, and he burst into dust. I spun around and stabbed another one in the gut before he could react.

A giant grabbed me from behind, a meaty hand on each of my arms. In a feat of athleticism that surprised even me, I kicked off the ground, rotating in his grip, and kicked him in the nose. The monster let go, but I wasn't done yet. I finished my flip, my sword swinging around behind and cutting him vertically in half. Three killed in as many seconds? Not bad.

Still, numbers were against me. There were still ten laistrygonians. Across the room, Augustus was definitely wearing down. The stupid mortal waiter was just sitting there, petrified. "You have to get out of here!" I heard Augustus yell at him, but for all the effect it had, Gus might as well have been yelling at a brick. I needed to get over to him. Sure, I'd lose the close-range advantage I had, but there was no way he was going to last much longer on his own.

I leaped up onto a table as another one of the monsters swiped at me. I smacked him across the face with the flat of my blade, then planted my foot against his nose. As he stood up, I pushed off, using the momentum to carry me across the room to Augustus. Just as I landed, his whirlwind gave out. Gus was panting hard.

"How's it hanging?" I asked, switching back to trident mode and blasting a cannonball out of the air.

"Just peachy," Augustus replied sarcastically. "I'd be a lot better if our waiter friend would clear out so that I can switch to offense." He managed to summon another blast of air and knocked another cannonball to the side. The room was becoming hot as a furnace. Even the laistrygonians looked a little warm.

Things continued like that for a couple more minutes, but one of us was bound to mess up eventually. Turns out it was me. I let one of the cannonballs get a little too close before blasting it. The explosion knocked Gus and I off our feet. It was over. We'd failed our quest just hours in.

The laistrygonians laughed. "Excellent!" one of them said. Maybe Ripper. "Now we can feast on demigod flesh!"

My eye twitched in annoyance. "We're _legacies_! Gods of Olympus, do any monsters do their research!?"

"Apparently not," Augustus said dryly.

Just then, the roar of an engine filled the trashed restaurant. Jake's car crashed through the debris and slammed into a couple of the giants, vaporizing them. The headlights flipped up and blasted out twin laser beams, vaporizing two more. The passenger side window rolled down, and Jake yelled at us, "Get in!"

We didn't need telling twice. Augustus and I leaped for the car. Gus dove in through the passenger side window. I yanked open the back door and dove into the seat, slamming the door behind me. Jake reversed out the way he came, and suddenly we were on the road.

"What about the mortal?" I asked.

"Hopefully they'll leave him and follow us," Jake answered.

"Oh they're doing that, alright," Augustus said. He pointed out the back windshield. The remaining laistrygonians had loaded into two of the trucks and were already chasing after us. Each truck sported one of the ugly guys leaning out the window, a flaming bronze cannonball in his hand.

Each of them fired at us, sending two bronze cannonballs our way. This time, I was sure we were toast, but the cannonballs exploded in midair about ten feet away from the car. The car shook slightly, but we were fine. An image displayed on the center console, showing the car with a blue ring around it. Text read: _Shields at 82%_.

"Your car has shields?" Gus asked incredulously.

"I am a son of Hephaestus," Jake said. "Of course my car has shields."

"Did you void the warranty when you added them?" Gus asked.

"Focus," I snapped. "We're not out of the woods yet."

The laistrygonians fired off more bronze cannonballs. The car shook, and the shields dropped to seventy percent. "Can't we go any faster?" I asked.

"I installed a turbo booster," Jake said. "But it isn't safe to use it in town. We've got to get on the highway first!"

Meanwhile, police cars had shown up and were in hot pursuit. Why they'd just now shown up when the explosions at Denny's had started ages ago, I wasn't sure. Also, how was it that I didn't even have my license and had already been involved in two car chases? The car shook more violently as another pair of cannonballs slammed into our shields. The shields were down to fifty-six percent.

"Can we even hold out that long?" Augustus asked.

Jake grunted noncomitantly. Not a good sign. Mortals had fled the streets, screaming in abject terror. I wondered what they saw through the Mist, but more than that, I hoped they got to safety.

Another pair of cannonballs blasted against the shield. Forty percent now. The car shook so badly that time, we actually got some air.

Even through the closed windows, I could hear the police yelling over the loud speakers. "Pull over the vehicles and drop the pies!"

Pies? The mortals thought the laistrygonians were chucking pies at us? A magnificent stretch even for the Mist. Two more "pies" hit our shield, which dropped to twenty-two percent. The ring changed from blue to yellow.

"I'm guessing yellow is bad," Gus commented.

"Shut up, Grace," Jake snapped. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

Another explosion rocked the car. The force was so great that the windows cracked. Somehow, Jake kept control of the vehicle. The ring around the car representing the shield turned red and flashed. The percentage readout said five. A computerized voice said, "Warning: shield failure imminent."

"No shit!" Jake roared at the computer. He yanked the wheel hard, and we swerved onto the highway's ramp. Somehow, the laistrygonians managed to make the sharp turn, too. I glanced back and saw the ones holding the cannonballs cock their arms back.

We shot off the ramp and onto the highway. "Hang on!" Jake yelled.

The giants launched their projectiles at us. Simultaneously, Jake pounded a red button on the dash. I was slammed against the back of my seat as the turbo kicked in and we shot off down the highway at three hundred miles per hour.

* * *

 **AN: So quick question: Batman or Superman? Lemme know!**

 **As for Magnus Chase:  
I really like it so far. I haven't had time to finish it yet, but I really like Magnus's narration. He's got a wit similar to Percy's, but edgier. At least, that's how it seems to me. It's also really fast paced, which I also like. (I don't mind slower starts as you can probably tell from my writing, but faster paced things are pretty awesome, too.)**


	8. Chapter 8: I Get Pain in the Future!

**AN: Hey guys! I'm back again! Thanks as always for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, etc. It really means a lot to me. The bit I gave you in the preview at the end of the last book is in this one, so that's pretty cool. I don't have a lot to really say this time, so let's just get started. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 8: I Get Pain in the Future! Oh Joy!

We stopped around seven in the evening. After the fight in the Denny's, we were all tired. So after the GPS took us off the highway, we found the nearest motel. Jake said that we were only a couple of hours from the radio tower, so we'd be able to make it there first thing in the morning.

The motel's manager was very anxious about letting three minors stay in a room without any adult supervision, and I really couldn't blame him. He didn't know it, but we sort of attracted trouble.

"Look, the credit card is in my mom's name," Jake said, frustrated. "You want money, we want a place to stay for one night. If your boss asks, you can tell him that my mom is the one who booked the room. That way, you're free of liability."

Jake was a big guy, and though the man behind the reception desk was his senior, Jake towered over him. Still, the receptionist held out. "Young man, we can't just let three minors have a room. You three could be runaways. You could have stolen that credit card from anyone."

"Let me handle this," Augustus muttered. He stepped in front of Jake and smiled charmingly at the receptionist. "Hey man, how's it going?" He didn't wait for the receptionist to respond. "Listen, all my friends and I want is a place to stay for the night. We'll be quiet, we'll behave. You can count on me to make sure of that, my friend. And we'd be paying for the room, obviously. This lovely establishment earns money, you get your paycheck, and we get a room. Everybody wins."

I had to admit that Gus was getting scarily good at charmspeak. I suddenly wanted to give him a place to stay and take his money, but I resisted the urge, partially because I didn't have anywhere for him to stay anyway. The receptionist also seemed convinced. His eyes glazed over. "Yeah, alright. As long as you three behave."

"We will," Augustus promised. Jake handed over the credit card and paid for our room. The receptionist produced a key card and informed us we were in room "two o three."

Our room was a dilapidated, but it would do for the night. I remembered last year that my friends and I had done most of our sleeping sitting up in trains. I claimed one of the two beds as mine, pulling the "I'm the only girl" card. Jake flopped down on the other bed. "Holy Hephaestus," he sighed. "Today was pretty wild."

"That's nothing," I said, sitting on the end of my bed. "Last year we had to jump onto a moving train."

"You did what now?" Augustus asked.

"It could've been worse," Jake consented. "Bu I'm worried about what'll happen tomorrow when we get to the radio tower. We don't know what might be waiting for us there. And I'd rather go in there with a plan."

I nodded. Often, I wanted the same. I guess it made sense. I was related to Athena, he was related to Hephaestus. I'd always kind of thought that if Athena wasn't a virgin goddess, she and Hephaestus could have been a thing. (How did Athena have kids if she was a virgin goddess? Trust me, you don't wanna know.)

"We'll just have to improvise," Augustus said. "We can't exactly make a plan. We're just going to have to go in and hope for the best."

"That's a good way to get killed," I joked. In truth, sometimes improvising was the only choice. I had done lots of it last year on my quest.

Gus though, took me seriously. "Whatever, Elizabeth." He grabbed his bag. "I'm going to go take a shower." He stalked off to the bathroom. I gaped at him. What was up with him?

After the water started, Jake turned to me. "I can't tell if you two hate each other or are in love."

My face burned. "Neither," I said defensively. "We're just friends."

Jake fixed me with a piercing gaze. "I could be wrong. I'm no child of Aphrodite."

Just then, I really felt like getting out of the room. My face was so hot you could probably make an egg on it. "Right, well I'm gonna go check out the pool." I grabbed my bag.

"You should take your sword," Jake said. "Just in case. Our friends from earlier might still be after us."

"I've got a knife in my bag," I said quickly, then left the room.

* * *

I used the motel's public restroom to change into my suit, then carefully placed my bag near the pool and jumped in. I immediately started swimming laps. The pool wasn't very big, and I'd gotten really good at manipulating the water around me to speed up my swimming. As a result, I'd completed about fifty laps in a matter of minutes.

While I swam, I tried to focus on a lot of the things that were bothering me: What was Gaius up to? How had Gaius been conceived? Why was Alex important to Gaius's plans? But for some reason, all I could think about was Augustus Grace. I growled in frustration. I was a descendant of Athena, not some boy-crazy schoolgirl.

"Stupid boys," I muttered just before I pushed off the wall for my sixtieth lap.

"Oh, don't write all of them off so quickly," a deep voice said.

I yelped and instinctively dove underwater. When I popped back up a second later, the man was laughing. I recognized the black hair and beard, the crinkle lines around his eyes, and the obnoxious Hawaiian shirt. It was my grandfather Poseidon.

"Di immortals," I cursed. "You scared the shit outta me… er, sorry about the swearing."

Poseidon looked like he was holding back another laugh. "Not at all, my dear. I'm sorry for scaring you." I swam over to the edge of the pool and pulled myself up. It was a little weird being in front of my grandfather in my bikini. I mean, usually one's supposed to be fully dressed around the gods. But I don't think Poseidon really cared.

"So, grandfather," I said, "to what do I owe the pleasure? I assume you want something or want to tell me something?"

Poseidon's smile died. He looked downright worried. "Perceptive as always my dear. Yes, I have come for a specific reason. I wanted to deliver you a warning about your enemy."

"A warning? You know what Gaius is up to?"

Poseidon glanced up nervously. Zeus didn't zap him, which was good. Still, Poseidon cleared his throat awkwardly. "Unfortunately, my brother has seen fit to ban any discussion about him. I know you are desperate for answers, and there are many among the gods who are seeking them as fervently as you, but we must be careful. We can't disobey Zeus directly."

I sighed in frustration. "Why does Zeus think ignoring the problem will make it go away?"

"You've never done the same thing?" Poseidon asked keenly.

I thought about how I was trying to ignore my feelings for Augustus and my face lit up again. "That's not… I'm not… Look, Gaius is a bit bigger of a problem than anything I might be ignoring."

Poseidon chuckled slightly, but he turned serious again quickly. "No, Elizabeth, I did not come to speak to you about Gaius. I came about your current mission. I came to warn you about the woman holding the son of Zeus captive."

"Marina." I didn't point out that Marina worked for Gaius. Poseidon had made it pretty clear that he wouldn't be able to tell me anything about him. "What does she hope to accomplish?" I asked. "What's the purpose of holding Alex captive? What does she gain?"

"That remains unclear," Poseidon said with a frown. "Certainly she must have a reason, but what it might be, I do not know."

"Why can't the answers ever be easy?" I demanded. I knew I sounded like a child, but I didn't care. There was so much going on, so much that my brain was trying to juggle. I was just one person. However smart I was, there was only so much I could do on my own.

Poseidon shrugged his shoulders. "That's just the way the Fates are. And even if I did know everything about Marina's plan, I couldn't tell you everything. Gods are not supposed to interfere where prophecies are concerned."

"But we didn't get a prophecy for this quest," I complained.

"No, you did not," Poseidon agreed. "But Alex did. All that is happening now is a part of his prophecy."

"I don't suppose you can tell me what his prophecy says?"

Poseidon's smile lines crinkled a little, but his voice continued to be serious. "The prophecy is not mine to tell. At any rate, even appearing before you now with my warning is pushing it. But there are some very important things that you must understand about your foe Marina."

"Like?"

"When the times comes, it must be you who faces her," Poseidon said. "Otherwise, your friends will dies and the son of Zeus shall perish. But fighting her will be no simple task. She can control water."

Suddenly I felt very cold, despite the warm night. "What? How? Is she your – you know."

"No," Poseidon assured me. "She is not my daughter. But she can control water."

"So how can she control water?"

Poseidon looked down uncomfortably. "I'm sorry Elizabeth. Telling you would be too much."

I felt a surge of annoyance. If the information was so godsdamned important, why couldn't he just tell me? _Calm down_ , I told myself. _Don't be impulsive. He's doing the best he can to help you_. But sometimes, I just couldn't help myself. "How do you expect me to win if you won't tell me everything you know?" I burst out.

Poseidon was unphased by my outburst, but I chided myself regardless. This was one of the gods on my side. That was a rare commodity for me considering I'd pissed a lot of gods off by losing my temper in front of the entire Olympian Council. I didn't want to alienate my grandfather, too.

"One of the hardest parts of being a god is letting your mortal family find their own destinies," Poseidon said, frowning. "We can help in small ways, but ultimately our mortal descendants must find their own way. You can succeed Elizabeth, but it is up to you to do so." Poseidon stepped out onto the surface of the pool water. He turned back to face me. "I must leave you now," he said. "Good luck, Elizabeth. Also, I am sorry."

"Sorry?"

"In the near future, you will suffer great personal pain. I wish that it was not so, but that is how it must be." Poseidon was sinking into the pool, but instead of floating to the bottom he was disappearing.

"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked, desperately. "What do you mean about personal pain?" But Poseidon was gone. I slammed my hand against the cement and cried out in frustration. The pool, sensing my anger, became disturbed and wavy.

Whoa. I hadn't lost control of my powers like that in a long time. I'd barely even used my powers during the school year. But the pool was really aligning itself with my powers. The water was even starting to rise out of the cement basin. Pain started to build in my gut. I forced myself to ignore the pain and took several deep breaths. _Focus_ , I thought. _Reassert control._ Eventually, the knot in my stomach untied itself, and the pool sloshed back into place.

Spots danced in my vision. It took effort, but I managed not to pass out. Using my powers was very taxing for me. Simple things like breathing underwater I could manage without any drawback besides a slight headache. But controlling large amounts of water was a totally different beast. Usually it resulted in splitting headaches and the urge to vomit. Many times it made me pass out. Sometimes I also came down with a really high fever, as if using my powers was burning up my life force. The only thing that helped prevent those nasty side-effects was Marianas in trident mode, and even _then_ doing too much left me feeling nasty.

Shakily, I stood up. "Pool time's over," I croaked to myself, then left the pool area.

* * *

When I slept, I dreamed again. I was back in the titan stronghold of Mt. Othrys, but I wasn't in the entry hall like I'd been in the previous dream. This room seemed like some kind of throne room. The black walls and floors gleamed with light reflected from the braziers. Lining the walls were a series of black marble statues. I didn't recognize the figures, but I thought it was a safe bet to assume these were the titans.

In the back of the room was a raised dais flanked by two braziers. On the dais was a ten foot long sarcophagus of gold, but I couldn't see it very well because of the two massive figures standing in front of it. They looked very similar: they were the same height (about ten feet tall) and the same build. They were even wearing suits of armor in the same style. The one on the right was dressed in bright golden armor. He practically emanated heat. His eyes shone brightly from inside his helmet. The other guy's armor was black with white studs like stars. His helmet had rams horns spiraling out of the sides.

Golden armor guy placed his hands atop the sarcophagus. "Soon, Kronos will rise. Then we can truly unleash our vengeance against the gods. Only one more demigod needs pledge themselves to our cause."

Ram horns dude grunted. "Yeah, it'll be great. I just hope I get a good job this time."

Golden armor guy laughed harshly. "I wouldn't count on it, Krios."

Ram horns sighed. "You're probably right. I always get the bad jobs. But at least I'm out of the pit. That's something."

Golden armor slapped Krios's shoulder. "That's the spirit, brother. And soon we'll lay waste not only to the gods, but also this puny human civilization."

"Speaking of the mortals," Krios said, "I suppose you've heard Kronos's plan?"

Golden armor grumbled. "I did. I cannot say that I approve. It seems remarkably unlike him. Perhaps the Castellan boy is already affecting his judgement."

"Perhaps, brother," Krios said. "But once our other brother sets his mind to something, there's no stopping him." Both of the them gazed down at the sarcophagus again. Then the dream changed.

* * *

I was in the same room as before, but Krios and his brother were gone and I was able to take in the full sight of the sarcophagus. The sides were carved with disturbing images: gods being run over by chariots, temples and famous buildings being destroyed, and worse. The sarcophagus let off waves of cold, turning the whole room into a meat locker. I appreciated just how much heat the golden armor titan must have been putting out to counteract the cold.

I looked around for a moment, but the room was empty except for me. I decided to move closer to the coffin. I moved across the room and stood over it. The lid was worse than the side; the scenes of death and destruction were even more gruesome. In the center of the lid there was an inscription in an ancient language I didn't recognize, but somehow the translation popped into my head: KRONOS, LORD OF TIME.

I had figured the coffin had something to do with him, the way Krios and his brother had been talking about it, but I was still confused. Hadn't Kronos possessed Luke? Why then was there a coffin for Kronos?

I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. I turned. A familiar looking teenaged boy entered the room. He was about my age, maybe a few months older, but definitely not more than a year older than I was now. I recognized his black hair and sea green eyes. I also recognized the hat he was wearing: Mom's magic New York Yankees cap. I rolled my eyes slightly. I was the only person in my family that preferred the Red Sox (which I suppose made me a terrible New Yorker, but whatever).

Anyway, it was my dad. The hat should've made him invisible, but since I was in a dream, I got to see him just fine. Dad looked around the room nervously. He pulled out his ballpoint pen and uncapped it. Riptide sprung to life. The cold air steamed off the celestial bronze blade.

Slowly, cautiously, he approached the dais. He kept looking around like he might be attacked at any moment or like something was wrong. Finally my dad stood over the coffin. By happenstance, I was standing across from him. With a start, I realized that at fourteen, I was taller than my dad at the same age. There was something inherently wrong with being taller than my dad.

Tentatively, Dad reached out When his hand touched the lid his fingertips started turning blue. Frost crackled on his sword. Voices reached me from far away. Dad seemed to hear them, too. He made a face like he was steeling himself for something, then he pushed the lip open. Instinctively, I jumped back. Even though it was only a dream, I couldn't quite help the creepy feeling that filled the room. The lid crashed to the floor.

Dad raised up his sword, ready to stab downwards. But when he saw what was inside, he faltered. The body was mortal. He was a tall guy, sure, but the ten foot long sarcophagus dwarfed him. He wore grey pants and a white t-shirt. His hands were neatly folded over his stomach. In the center of his chest was a black, bullet sized hole. His eyes were closed. But for the scar on the left side of his face, he looked exactly like Gaius.

The body in the coffin was Luke Castellan's. I processed the information at lightning speed. This must've been the final moments before Kronos rose, possessing Luke's body. Was this how it happened? I had wondered, but Mom and Dad had always been maddeningly vague on the specifics.

Now though, I was able to make a good guess as to how it had gone down. The sarcophagus was being used to call Kronos's spirit out of Tartarus, but he'd needed a body, at least temporarily. So when Kronos was almost completely drawn out of the pit, Luke had provided his body. He hadn't liked it. In fact, it had downright terrified him if my previous dreams were any indicator. But he'd done his job.

Another thought occurred to me, too. Perhaps Kronos had needed a willing host. Perhaps that was why he'd allowed Luke to go see Erin one last time. Maybe Kronos wasn't intentionally trying to get Erin pregnant. It was wishful thinking, though. I was almost sure Kronos had some good reason for what he'd done beyond ensuring Luke's cooperation.

Dad continued to hold his sword over Luke's body. The blade quivered. And then, the opportunity passed. Unfairly, I got a little upset at my father. He should've just stabbed Kronos then. If he had, then maybe I wouldn't have had to fight Gaius. _Come on Elizabeth_ , I thought. _That's not fair. He was surprised. And besides, he probably couldn't have killed him now if he tried._

But now it was too late for him to try. The voices were practically right behind him. They belonged to two of the dog-seal-people monsters I'd seen last times. Telkhines, I think. They were carrying something wrapped in cloth. With them was a vaguely familiar teenaged kid with black hair and an eye patch.

"What has happened!" one of the monsters screamed when he saw the missing lid. Dad stumbled away and hit, clearly forgetting he was invisible.

"Careful!" warned the other one. "Perhaps he stirs. We must present the gifts now. Immediately!"

The monsters moved forward, holding the up the cloth package. It was partially unwrapped. It was a scythe, glinting wickedly two different colors: half celestial bronze, half steel.

The kid with the eyepatch shifted uncomfortably. Other than that, nothing happened.

"You fool," one of the telkhines said. "He requires the half-blood first."

Eyepatch stepped back fearfully. "Whoa, what do you mean, he requires me?"

"Don't be a coward! He does not require your death. Only your allegiance. Pledge him your service. Renounce the gods. That is all."

"No!" Dad yelled. He burst out from his hiding spot and ripped off the invisibility hat. "Ethan, don't!"

"Trespasser!" one of the telkhines roared. Both bared their fangs. "The master will deal with you soon enough. Hurry, boy!"

"Ethan," my dad begged, "don't listen to them. Help me destroy it."

Eyepatch turned toward Dad. The shadows made his eyepatch look like it was made of darkness. His expression almost resembled pity. "I told you not to spare me, Percy. 'An eye for an eye.' You ever hear that saying? I learned what it meant the hard way – when I discovered my godly parent. I'm the child of Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge. And this is what I was made to do."

Ethan turned towards the sarcophagus. "I renounce the god! What have they ever done for me? I will see them destroyed. I will serve Kronos."

What happened next was like a scene from a horror movie. The entire mountain shook. A wisp of blue light appeared at Ethan's feet and floated to the coffin. It settled into the sarcophagus, and Luke Castellan sat bolt upright, his eyes golden.

Back in our motel room, my own eyes flicked open.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, see you guys next Tuesday!**


	9. Chapter 9: It's a Trap

**AN: Hey guys! I'm back with yet another chapter! I want to thank everyone, as I always do, for interacting with this story however you choose to, whether you read, review, follow, favorite, or any combination. I really appreciate all the support I get! This chapter is one of my overall favorites that I have planned/written in the entire book, so I'm really excited for you guys to see it!**

 **Alright, that's enough from me. Enjoy the chapter! DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 9: It's a Trap and I Am Unsurprised

I stared up at the moon, thinking hard about my dream. I leaned against the railing of the porch that connected the motel rooms, my earbuds in and my music blaring. I suppose that's why I punched Augustus.

In my defense, he shouldn't have startled me like he did.

I was just enjoying the peace while loud rock music played in my ears. Among other things, Dad had instilled in me a love of heavy metal. So I didn't know Augustus had come out of the motel room until I felt a tap on my shoulder. My muscles tensed, and I reacted instinctively. I whirled around and punched him in his annoyingly perfect six-pack abs. And that's when it registered with me that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Gods of Olympus, what was that boy thinking?

My face heated up and my heart started practicing Irish dance. I wrenched out my earbuds and punched him again for good measure. "Poseidon's sweaty underpants!" I swore. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Gus?"

Augustus rubbed his abdomen, wincing. I felt mingled guilt and pride; I could really pack a punch. Upon closer inspection, I realized his ruffled brown hair and superman pajama bottoms. He must've just woken up. But why in Zeus's name had he decided to sleep shirtless? Was it a teenage boy thing?

"Sorry I scared you," he grunted. "Woke up, couldn't get back to sleep."

"So you decided it would be a good idea to come outside _without a shirt on_?"

Gus glanced down as if he was just realizing his bare-chestedness. He blushed furiously. Gods, he could be so dense sometimes. I felt like face-palming. I may have been the granddaughter of Poseidon, but Augustus Grace was the Seaweed Brain. "Didn't even think about that," he muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously."

"You couldn't sleep either?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Had a bad dream."

"What about?"

I hesitated. "I don't really remember," I lied. "I just woke up scared. Couldn't fall back asleep." Augustus didn't press the issue, possibly because he bought it, possibly because he had enough sense not to. "How about you?" I asked. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

Augustus considered the answer for a moment, which was a little unlike him. Finally, he said, "I'm just really worried about this mission. What if we fail? What if _I_ fail as a leader? I mean, I'm in charge of this quest, but all I've done so far is stand there useless while you and Jake took out those laistrygonians."

"What you did was very important," I assured him. "You protected that mortal as long as you could. That's important."

"But I'm no leader," Gus said. "I feel like I should be, but I don't know what's going on. Why did that Marina lady take Alex? And I know you don't really like Alex, but you can't deny he's a powerful demigod. If Marina beat him, how can we stand a chance?"

Privately, I thought about my conversation with Poseidon. There wouldn't be a "we" when it came to fighting Marina. It would be all me. Oh, also there was that part about terrible personal pain. Couldn't forget that bit. Still, I didn't say anything about it. There was no sense in making him worry about something else. Instead, I said, "The difference between us and Alex, is there's three of us. We will succeed. And you're a better leader than you give yourself credit for."

"But I haven't done anything useful yet!" he reiterated. "And I keep saying and doing stupid things."

"You can be dense sometimes, Gus," I said. "But you're _not_ stupid. And as for leadership, you just haven't had a chance yet. But you will. And when the time comes, I know you'll prove yourself."

"How can you possibly know that?" he asked.

"Because I know you," I said. "Because you doubt yourself. You're not just some cocky idiot with too much bravado, even though you pretend to be." I bumped his shoulder playfully. "I wouldn't want someone who was too cocky leading me. A little bit of self-doubt can be good, and I think it makes you a good leader. You're not always convinced that you're right all the time, and you're not convinced that you can do everything on your own. If you did think those things, you'd just charge in without any thought and you'd definitely get us all killed."

"I could still get us all killed," Gus said. "But thanks. I appreciate your faith in me."

"You're welcome," I said. "What are friends for, eh?"

Gus snorted. "If we're such good friends, how come we fight so much?"

Wow, he really was dense if he couldn't figure that one out. I opened and closed my mouth several times, trying to come up with a response, but I was saved the potential embarrassment by the sound of a vehicle coming into the parking lot. I glanced down. It was one of the trucks from earlier. The driver and two others hopped out of the truck. Our laistrygonian friends had caught up with us. I shot Augustus a look of alarm.

"I see them," he said. "Come on!"

Gus grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the room. I didn't even have time to get flustered about it. As soon as the door swung shut behind me, I was scooping up my backpack.

"Jake!" Augustus yelled as he pulled on his t-shirt. "Wake up, we gotta go!"

In a daze, Jake sat up and switched on the lamp. "It's four in the morning," he complained.

"We've got company," I informed him. I strapped my sword to my waist. My pajama shorts weren't ideal for that, since they didn't have belt loops, but whatever. I didn't exactly have time to change into better combat clothes. "Our cannibal friends from earlier. We need some kind of attack plan."

"No," Augustus said. "I'm pretty sure they haven't seen us. If we play our card rights, we can get out of here without a fight."

"What about the mortals," I protested. "We can't just leave them with three cannibal giants."

"I'm making this suggestion _because_ of the mortals," Gus explained. "If we fight them here, some mortals might get hurt. The giants are obviously following us. If we leave, they'll follow us."

I blinked. He was right. _Looks like my talk with him was effective_ , I thought.

We shouldered our bags and crept from our room. I peeked over the railing. The laistrygonians had just emerged from the reception building. They were making their way over to the nearby stairs that would lead them straight to us. Keeping crouched, we moved in the opposite direction and around a corner.

"They must've found out which room was ours," I whispered.

"So much for customer confidentiality," Jake muttered.

"We'll have to move fast," Augustus said. "When they get to our room, we make our break for it."

"We're just gonna run past them?" Jake asked. "That seems a little foolhardy."

Augustus shook his head. "We drop over the railing. I can use the winds to cushion our fall. Then we dash to the car."

Jake and I looked at each other. "Alright, Superman," I said. "Let's do it."

Gus peeked around the corner, keeping an eye on the giants' location. There was the sound of one of them pounding on our door. "Now," Augustus whispered. All three of us leaped over the railing. Just before we hit the ground, there was a gust of wind, and we floated safely the rest of the way down.

We turned and ran full out to the car. I was wrenching open one of the doors when one of the monsters turned around. I saw his face freeze for a split second, then he yelled, "There they are!"

I slammed the car door behind me, Jake threw the car into reverse and stomped on the accelerator. There was a squeal of tires, the car whirled around, we lurched into drive, and then we were gone. I let out a breath of relief. "Great job, Gus! That was brilliant."

He gave me a small smile. "I have good ideas occasionally."

"Since we're up," Jake commented, "we might as well head to the radio tower. We can get there in just a couple of hours. Right around sunrise. The laistrygonians obviously know how to track us. We should get to the radio tower as soon as possible."

"Sounds like a plan," Gus said. "In the meantime, I'm going to try and catch a couple more z's." He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. I tried to do the same thing, but after a few minutes, I gave up. I climbed up into the passenger seat (both Gus and I had climbed in the back in our haste).

Jake glanced over at me. "You should try to sleep some more, too. Gods know what we'll face when we get there."

I shrugged. "Not really tired anymore." I looked out the window, then back over at Jake. I hardly knew the guy at all, and it was very possible that we'd be facing some serious danger together soon. I wanted to know something about the guy before we got into that situation. The trouble was, I wasn't entirely sure where to start. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "So how did you and Gus become friends, anyway?"

"We had activities together last year," Jake said. "Started hanging out eventually. Not all that interesting a story." I nodded. Made sense. I searched uselessly for a new topic of conversation, but Jake solved that problem for me. "You miss your friends?" he asked. "Theo and Jocelyn?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I was really looking forward to just having a good summer with them."

"You still can," Jake assured me. "We'll be fine."

"I hope you're right," I said darkly. There was silence for a moment before I changed the subject. "So it was cool of your mom to give you that emergency credit card."

Jake nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah she gave it to me for my fifteenth birthday. She knows I'm a demigod, see. She wanted me to have money in case I was ever in a situation where I needed it."

"That was nice of her. What does she do?"

"She's an aerospace engineer with NASA," he said. "Pretty cool stuff, actually. Mom designs rockets."

"I guess that's how she got your dad's attention?"

"Yeah," Jake said. "She's a brilliant engineer. Really good at drawing up the plans and all the math behind it, but she's also good at actually building the stuff. Most of the people she works with just know one or the other, but she can do both."

"She sounds like a pretty cool lady," I commented. "Do you live at home during the school year?"

Jake frowned. "I used to, but the last couple of years I've stayed at camp year round. I still go home for the major holidays, and a week or two here or there, but other than that I'm at Camp Half-Blood."

That struck me as somewhat odd. Most people who had families to go home to during the school year usually did. "Why'd you switch?"

"My projects," Jake said, and I detected a distinct note of pride in his voice. "I've been working on a couple of really big projects the last couple of years, and they just require too much attention for me to leave for months at a time."

"What kinds of projects?" I asked, intrigued. The guy was clearly a mechanical and technological genius. The car we were sitting in was the proof of that. Whatever he was building, I was sure it was going to be cool.

Jake smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see like everyone else. But it will be awesome, I can guarantee that."

I chuckled. "I believe you."

"So how about your family?" Jake asked. "What's it like having the two greatest heroes in the last millennia as parents?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I'd gotten the question many times before, but I still wasn't entirely sure how to answer it. I was well aware of the amazing, incredible things they'd done, but at the same time, they were just my parents. They loved me, sometimes they went out of their way to embarrass me, they comforted me. One of my earliest memories was Dad coming into my room to comfort me when I'd woken up from a nightmare screaming.

 _"It was just a bad dream,"_ he'd said. _"Just a nightmare, Elizabeth. You're okay. Everyone gets nightmares sometimes."_

I remembered learning how to play chess from Mom and how pleased I'd been the first time I'd beaten her. I still remembered six-year-old me laughing with delight and saying, _"I won Mommy! I finally won!"_

Mom had laughed and said, _"I'll get you next time!"_ I realized years later that she'd been going easy on me at the time. In recent years there had been a marked jump in the difficulty of playing against Mom in chess.

How did I reconcile my parents as… well, parents with my parents as legends. Because I knew the stories. I knew why my parents were heroes, and they definitely deserved the praise they got. How could they be regular parents and some of the most powerful demigods who ever lived at the same time?

I'd apparently been silent for a long time, because Jake said, "I'm sorry if that was too personal. You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's not that," I assured him. "I just… don't really know how to answer your question. Most people expect me to say something like, 'oh, they're so totally badass,' or 'we go monster hunting every weekend,' or something along those lines. But the truth is, to me they're just parents. I mean, I understand why they're such big heroes, but to me they're just normal parents. I've never really seen them as legends. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah," Jake said. "It makes perfect sense. I guess people sometimes forget that celebrities are the same as the rest of us and aren't just their accomplishments."

"My parents aren't celebrities," I said quickly.

"Aren't they?" Jake replied. "Tell me, who's more famous in the demigod world than your folks?"

I thought about that for a minute. Maybe Jake was right, maybe my parents were demigod celebrities.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes. My head kept lolling back against the head rest and snapping upright. "You should sleep," Jake observed. "You look pretty tired. You'll need as much energy as you can get in case we have to fight. And I suspect that we will."

If this radio tower really was our final destination, I expected so, too. A woman named Marina who could control water was waiting for me, and I was the only one that could stop her. Nevertheless, I didn't want to leave Jake alone while both Gus and I slept. What if Jake started to doze off?

As if he was reading my mind, Jake chuckled. "I'll be fine, I promise. Just get some rest, okay, Jackson?"

I wanted to protest, but it was already too late. The motion of the car on the road was soothing, and my eyelids felt so heavy. Next thing I knew, Augustus was shaking me awake from his seat in the back. "We're almost there. Five minutes. You might want to change into some real clothes."

* * *

The radio tower in question was suspiciously devoid of people. The tall metal tower loomed above us. All around the place were thick woods. Who had thought building a radio tower in the middle of the woods was a good idea?

The three of us warily got out of the car. Augustus and I had our swords strapped to our hips. Jake's hammer was dangling from his belt. Slowly, we walked toward the cement structure at the base of the tower. It looked like a maintenance shed.

"Where is everyone?" Gus asked.

"Radio towers mostly run on their own nowadays," Jake explained. "That building would normally have the computers that run the place inside."

"That shed seems a little tiny to house Marina's secret headquarters," I commented, glancing around nervously. "This doesn't feel right."

"Maybe her headquarters are underground and there's a secret hatch?" Augustus suggested. "Like you said yesterday Elizabeth."

Jake stroked his chin, and I was reminded that yesterday he'd left out something he suspected. "Maybe. Let's get in there. I want to check the computers."

We walked towards the building. I sliced the padlock with Marianas like it was made of butter. We went into the small one-room building. Most of the room was taken up by databanks with lights that blinked various colors. In the center of the back wall was a screen, mouse, and keyboard. "Access terminal," Jake guessed.

We looked around for a secret hatch for a few minutes, but didn't end up finding anything. "I don't get it!" Augustus snapped, kicking one of the databanks in frustration. "Where are they?"

Jake shifted uncomfortably. "I thought of this but I didn't want to bring it up and worry you," he said slowly. "It's possible that…"

I pieced it together in my head almost instantly. Of course. "It's possible that they bounced the signal," I finished. "The broadcast originated from somewhere else and they sent it through here. That way, if we traced the signal –"

"– it would lead us back here," Jake said. "Yeah."

Augustus's face turned stony. "And you're just mentioning this now!"

Jake held up his hands. "It was only an idea, I didn't know for sure. I didn't see the point in worrying you unnecessarily."

Gus opened his mouth to respond angrily, but I cut across him. "Lay off, Augustus," I wasn't sure why I was taking Jake's side. Certainly, I knew Augustus better. Maybe it was because I had just bonded with Jake. Maybe I was sympathizing with him about keeping things secret so as to not worry others. I'd been doing the same with Gaius for about a year now. But whatever the case, I wasn't mad at Jake. It was just another part of the quest, and we'd figure it out.

"Besides," Jake put in, "I can trace the true origin of the signal from the computer here. It'll take me a few minutes hacking, but I've definitely broken into more secure servers."

Augustus was still fuming, but he nodded stiffly. "Fine, but make it quick. Who knows how far we'll have to go. Remember, after today we only have two more days."

Jake immediately began tapping away at the keyboard. Just then, the sound of some vehicles pulling up outside reached my ears. I glanced at Gus and Jake in alarm. Jake swore. "I need time."

"Then we'll buy you time," Augustus said. He still looked angry. I was slightly worried that he'd throw caution to the wind and get himself hurt. That tended to happen with me when I was angry.

Augustus and I went outside, drawing our swords. All six of our remaining laistrygonian buddies had joined us this time. Each of them was holding a flaming bronze sphere. "Finally," said the one on the far right end. "We've been looking for you delicious morsels for ages! Now we can finally eat."

"Can we skip the banter?" Gus said irritably. "I'm not in the mood."

He charged at the laistrygonians. It surprised them, and they hesitated just long enough. I whirled Marianas around and switched to trident mode. I blasted one of them. He exploded in a starburst of seawater. The others had recovered their shock and launched their explosives at Augustus. He jumped into the air and shot up twenty feet, clearing the blast. I dashed forward and switched back to sword mode. I destroyed another one of the monsters by slashing him in half. Another one of the monsters grabbed me, but just then Augustus came back down and whacked him across the nose with the flat of his blade.

The monster let go of me, howling in pain. Gus stabbed him in the stomach. I slashed off the arm of the monster charging at Augustus from behind. The remaining two monsters were smarter than the rest: they had decided to run away. "Oh no you don't," I muttered. I switched back to trident mode and blasted one of them. Gus used his wind powers to pull the remaining monster back towards us. I switched back to sword form. The poor monster didn't stand a chance. Gus and I slashed diagonally at the same time, cutting the monster in an X shape. Monster dust exploded everywhere. As quickly as it had started, the fight had finished.

"Good work," I said.

"Thanks," Augustus panted back. "You, too. Let's go see if Jake finished up."

We sheathed our weapons and went back into the computer shed. Jake glanced up from the screen. "Just in time guys. I'm almost there." He tapped a few more keys on the keyboard, prompting a bunch of code to appear on the screen in a command prompt. Jake entered a few things into his phone. He smiled. "I've got the location. Come on let's get back to the car."

Suddenly a progress bar appeared on the screen. "Hang on," I said. "What's that?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't do that."

The progress bar finished loading and a video popped up. It was Marina. Her malicious sea green eyes glinted triumphantly. "Why, hello there! I had a feeling that Camp Half-Blood would be sending a rescue mission for that son of Zeus. Congratulations on tracking the signal back to this radio tower. Really, splendid work. I suppose you've hacked my real location by now, yes? Well done. You know, I think you deserve a reward, and I've got just the surprise for you! Trust me, it'll blow your mind."

The video disappeared, replaced by a timer counting down from ten. My eyes widened. "RUN!" I yelled. We dashed from the building, but we were only able to make it a couple yards before the radio tower exploded. The force of the blast knocked me forward. A wave of intense heat washed over me, then the world went black.

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 **AN: And that's it! Yay cliffhangers! Alright, I'll see you guys again this weekend for the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10: Good News! We Didn't Die!

**AN: Hey guys! So I know this is a bit later than usual, but here's the next chapter. As I always say, thank you so much everyone for your support. It's really been great. Also, just a friendly reminder that if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments and I'll respond to them next time. I really enjoy answering them, so don't be shy! Ask away!**

 **Alright, on with show. DFTBA!**

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Chapter 10: Good News! We Didn't Die!

The fact that I was dreaming was my first indication that I hadn't died, so that was good. My dream picked up right where my last one left off: Luke Castellan sitting bolt upright in Kronos's sarcophagus.

He leaped from the coffin and ice crackled on the floor where his feet touched. He looked around at the figures in the room, looking vaguely confused, his golden eyes glinting. Even in dream form I could feel the weight of his gaze. It pulled me in, almost like the titan lord has his own gravitational field that didn't care that I was actually from the future and only present in a dream. When Kronos saw my father, he smiled.

"This body has been well prepared," Kronos said, his voice doubled with Luke's. "Don't you think so, Percy Jackson?" Dad was frozen solid. I wasn't sure if it was from fear or because Kronos was using his time powers. Kronos simply threw back his head and laughed. "Luke feared you," he informed Dad. "His jealousy and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient. For that I thank you."

Finally, Dad overcame his shock. He lunged with Riptide and landed a good, solid strike that should've killed any mortal and done some serious damage to any god or titan. The blade bounced harmlessly off Kronos's chest. I really hoped Gaius hadn't inherited that trait. Then Kronos flicked his hand and Dad flew across the room like a rag doll. Kronos took his scythe from the telkhines as Dad struggled to stand.

"Ah… much better," he said. "Backbiter, Luke called it. An appropriate name. Now that it is re-forged completely it shall indeed _bite back_."

"What have you done to Luke?" Dad croaked.

Kronos lifted his blade. "He serves me with his whole being, as I require. The difference is, he feared you, Percy Jackson. I do not."

Dad did the smart thing, the thing I probably would've done: he ran. But it didn't do him much good. It was like he was running in slow motion. Meanwhile, Kronos advanced on him at a leisurely pace. "Run, little hero," he laughed. "Run!"

Even though I knew my father had survived that day, I had no clue how. Kronos was practically on top of him when the strangest thing happened. Three figures appeared in the doorway. One was Mom, her face a mask of pain, fear, and dismay. A small boy with shaggy black hair that could have only been a young Nico di Angelo simply looked surprised. A mane of red hair and intense freckles marked the third person as Rachel Dare. "PERCY!" Rachel yelled. She cocked back her arm and threw something. A blue plastic hairbrush. It nailed the Lord of Time in the eye.

"Ow!" he yelled in Luke's voice. Suddenly, Dad could run full speed.

"Luke?" Mom asked. "What –"

Dad grabbed her, Rachel, and Nico and dragged them after him, leading them on a full out sprint towards the exit. I, however, stayed with Kronos. It was almost like he was shimmering. The titan staggered, and a golden afterimage did the same. If I'd had to hazard a guess, I would've said Luke was fighting him. Finally, Kronos reasserted himself. "AFTER THEM!" he yelled.

I followed him and his troops to the entrance, chasing after my parents and their friends. "No!" Nico yelled. He thrust out his hands. A massive spire of rock erupted from the ground. The fortress shook, stone collapsed, crushing monsters, and the titan lord howled so loudly that my dream shifted.

* * *

I was in a small apartment. The kitchen, dining room, and living room were all one space. There was a short hall off to the side with three doors. Bedroom, bathroom, and study I guessed. Lounging on the sofa was a young woman that I recognized: Erin Cross. She wore jeans and a plain grey sweater. In between her slender fingers, she held a steaming mug. She didn't seem to be doing anything but staring at a wall. Thinking, most likely.

She was broken from her reverie by a knock at the front door. She started. Obviously, she wasn't expecting company. Erin set down her mug and made her way over to the apartment's front door to let in the visitor. She made the rookie mistake of forgetting to check the peephole. She unlocked the door and turned the handle.

It was Luke. Or was it Kronos? His eyes were golden, but the way he looked at her seemed so… _human_. "Erin," he croaked. It was Luke's voice.

Erin was completely taken aback. I had a pretty good idea what was about to happen, and I didn't like it. I wished I could've actually been there to slam the door in Luke/Kronos's face. "Luke," Erin said in a small voice. "What… what's going on?"

"The thing I told you about," Luke said. "It happened. I have Kronos inside me now. He's in charge of my body now, but he… he promised me that I could have one last night with you."

Erin clapped her hands over her mouth, obviously unsure how to respond. So, she'd believed him…

Finally, Erin said, "Well then what are you waiting for?" She smashed her lips against his and dragged him inside. Luke kicked the door closed behind him, then picked Erin up, making sure to keep their lips glued together. _When do they breathe?_ I wondered. They stumbled into the bedroom, making out the whole way. Thank gods the dream shifted again.

* * *

The next part must've been an hour or two later. Luke was sitting on the couch, pulling on his shoes. Erin looked disheveled. Oh, and she was wearing just a bathrobe. Clearly, Gaius had just been conceived. Luke looked up at Erin. His golden eyes were very serious. "Erin," he said, "listen to me. I will try my hardest to come back to you, I really will. But I may not have a choice in the matter."

Erin was blinking back tears. "I know."

Luke winced and pressed his hands to the sides of his head. "No… you promised me time…" he muttered. "Just a second…" Finally, he pulled his hands away from his head and looked back at his girlfriend. He reached into his coat and pulled two things out of an inner pocket: a small pendant and a string necklace. My throat tightened. It was Luke's camp necklace. Several of the beads on it were familiar to me from Mom's necklace. There was the centaur in the dress, there was the green trident on the black background.

I knew enough about his history to know that Luke had left camp several years prior to the events I was witnessing. He'd worked for Kronos even longer. Yet all that time, he'd kept his camp necklace. He hadn't completely sacrificed that part of his identity. I wondered if my parents knew that.

"This necklace is the last remnant of my old life," Luke said sadly. "Somehow, I could never bring myself to get rid of it. I was even able to keep Kronos from throwing it away. But… I want you to have it. I want you to keep it safe for me."

He allowed the beaded necklace to spill into Erin's hands. Tears fell silently down her face. Next, Luke held up the pendant. It was a simple silver thing with a red jewel set into the center. "This will heat up if I… if I can't come back," Luke said, his voice breaking. "The red gem will go clear. That way, at least you'll know if I… if I…" he broke off, but the unspoken word "die" hung in the air between them. "Keep this close." Luke pressed the pendant into Erin's hand.

He stood up and Erin stood with him. She looked like she was trying to hold back her emotions, but finally the dam broke. She wrapped Luke in what must have been a bone-crushing hug. "Luke," she sobbed. "Luke, I love you."

"I love you, too," Luke said, tears falling down his own face. Suddenly, he cried out in pain. Erin backed away quickly. "Okay!" he shouted. "I'm leaving! I'm –"

A shudder passed through his body. When he straightened up, something was very different. I felt the pull of gravity I'd felt in the first part of my dream. Erin took another half-step back. Even she could tell something had changed. "Luke?"

Kronos smiled coldly. "The boy really did quite love you," he said, his deep voice grating on me like nails on a chalk board. "His affection for you proved quite useful in manipulating him." Kronos laughed harshly. "'No, master, please find someone else as a host!' he'd said. But as soon as I threatened your safety, he was willing to make a deal. I even allowed him one last chance to see you." He laughed again. "Foolish boy."

"Please," Erin said, her voice breaking. "Can't you use someone else? Can't you just let us be together?"

Kronos laughed again, as if nothing amused him more than the anguish of mortals. "It is too late for that. Luke's body was not my first choice, but… what's that expression? Ah, yes. Beggars can't be choosers. But do not worry Erin Cross. Once I destroy the gods, destroy western civilization, you will be cared for. You may yet have importance to me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Kronos's golden eyes shone. "In time, Erin Cross. In time."

* * *

The dream changed one last time. I was in a stark white hallway. The air smelled of disinfectant. Medical personnel went to and fro. Suddenly, the doors at the end of the hall burst open, and a group of doctors and nurses came through wheeling a woman on a table. It was Erin Cross. Her belly was swollen like a blimp. She was crying out in pain.

"Time between contractions?" one of the doctors asked.

"Only ten seconds," one of the male nurses responded.

They rushed past me. Reluctantly, I followed. Watching "the miracle of birth" appealed to me about as much as a picnic in the Fields of Punishment. I'll go light on the details, but suffice it to say that I would've lost my lunch if I'd actually been there. Several times. Delivery took a while.

Finally, she gave birth. After the doctors had cleaned the baby off and done other important doctor-y things, they handed the newborn baby to Erin. I knew what to expect when his eyes opened, but it still made me start. Weren't babies generally supposed to have blue eyes? Yet there he was, the baby version of my enemy, staring up at his mother with golden eyes.

"Hello, Lukas Robert," Erin cooed softly. "Hello my beautiful baby boy."

* * *

When I came to, I was completely disoriented. I suppose nearly getting blown to Tartarus tends to do that to a person. The sights and noises around me were unfocused at first. The only thing I was aware of was how much I hurt. My head pounded like a bass drum. My mouth felt like it was filled with a combination of sand and cotton. The muscles all across my body ached like I'd just run a marathon. _But why?_ I wondered. Then it snapped back into place. The explosion. The radio tower had been a trap. My friends and I should've been dead. As far as I knew, my friends _were_ dead. Immediately, my senses returned to me.

With a sigh of relief, I realized I was lying on the ground just a couple feet behind Augustus and Jake. Both of them looked about as bad as I felt, but they were beginning to stir. They were alive. Their clothes were covered in filth and soot, torn in places and peppered by burn holes. We were surrounded by cement rubble. About thirty feet to our left was a mangled mess of metal that used to be the actual tower part of the radio tower. Our car lay in that scrap heap, completely unsalvageable. Our stuff had been in there, including my knife. _So much for not losing my knife this summer_ , I thought. _Sorry Mom._ I felt a twinge of annoyance as I realized that the laistrygonians' trucks had survived perfectly unscathed.

It was a miracle we'd survived at all, but we definitely weren't in great shape.

Emergency vehicles were at the scene. A fire crew was putting out the remnants of the flames. Police officers had cordoned off the whole area and were searching for clues as to what might have caused such a disaster. As I watched, and ambulance pulled up. Two people jumped out, a man and a woman, and they practically sprinted towards us.

I shifted slightly and, with great effort, managed to sit up. My headache got worse. "Whoa, easy there," the woman said as she got close. The other ambulance worker was a man. He'd begun to examine Jake and Gus, who were less conscious than me, but definitely coming to.

"Can you hear me?" the woman asked. "If talking is too hard you can nod."

I opened my mouth to respond. It took me a minute to get the words out because my throat was so dry, but I managed to say, "Honestly, I think nodding would make my head hurt worse."

The EMT smiled, but she did look worried. "Well at least your hearing is fine, but you've got a pretty nasty cut on your forehead. I'm going to check you for concussion signs, alright?"

I blinked. Now that she mentioned it, I did feel something a little sticky up there. "Okay."

"Do you feel nauseous?" she asked. "Like you might puke?"

"No," I responded. "I just hurt like hell."

"How's your head feel?"

"Like there's a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert going on in there," I responded.

She asked me a few other questions, like if I could remember what day of the week it was, if I had ringing in my ears, if I felt dizzy, and so on. After checking me for light sensitivity, she said, "Alright last thing, then we're done with the concussion test, okay?"

"Okay," I said.

"Follow my finger with your eyes," she said. She held her index finger up in front of my face. First she moved it side to side, which was fine, but when she moved it forwards and back her finger went completely out of focus, and my eyes actually hurt trying to focus on it. I made a noise of discomfort.

The EMT frowned. "Well I think you might have a minor concussion. Nothing too serious, I don't think, but you'll want to take it easy for a couple days. And in any case, we've got to take you to the hospital."

"Okay," I said. What I didn't say was that I wouldn't be taking it easy for a couple days because I was kinda on a deadly quest. But you know, that's generally not the type of information your share with random mortal ambulance workers.

"Do you think you can walk?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, lying. I definitely didn't feel up to walking. But with some effort, and some help from the woman, I was able to stand up and limp my way over to the ambulance.

"I'm Brittney, by the way," the woman said. She didn't make any reference to the fact that my sword was pressed up against her leg. Thank gods for the Mist.

"Elizabeth," I replied, sitting down in the back of the ambulance. Brittney passed me some water.

"Nice to meet you Elizabeth," she said. "Will you be okay if I go help my partner with the others?"

"Yeah, go ahead," I said. Brittney moved off, and I used the opportunity to run a more thorough check on myself. I was covered in dirt, soot, and, yes, blood. My clothes were dirty, torn, and peppered with burn holes. Yet surprisingly, my body seemed to be working fine. I checked my pocket and found my phone. The screen was a cobweb of cracks, but it also worked fine.

I sighed. That had been way to close. Marina had almost gotten us. I wondered if Gaius knew Marina had booby trapped the radio tower. Based on my interaction with him last year, I'd gotten the impression that Gaius didn't particularly want me dead. At least not yet. That led me to believe that either Marina didn't know I was on the rescue mission or she didn't care.

Thinking about Gaius brought my most recent set of dreams to the forefront. So Kronos _had_ gotten Erin pregnant intentionally. That was disturbing on so many levels. _You may yet have importance to me_. What had that meant? I mean, I knew it meant that Gaius had been planned on his part, but beyond that I was lost. It could mean any number of things…

I was broken out of my thoughts when Gus sat down next to me. "Hey," he croaked.

"Hey," I replied. He was absolutely filthy. His skin so covered in soot it was grey. The ends of his brown hair were singed. "How are you doing?"

"As far as the EMTs can tell, there's nothing majorly wrong with me," he said. "But they still want to make sure I get checked over at the hospital." Gus scowled. "It was a trap. It was always a trap. Jake should've told us his suspicion!"

"He wanted to make sure we stayed focused," I said. "And besides, there's no way he could've known this would happen."

"Well there's no way we're gonna be getting to Alex in time now," Augustus said bitterly. "Who knows how long the hospital will hold us?"

I frowned. I'd thought about that, too. But we really weren't in any kind of shape to keep going. I could barely move, and even though Augustus said he was fine, I had a suspicion that he was hurting worse than he cared to admit. Still, we had a quest to finish… What we needed was a plan.

Jake came over with help from the EMTs, limping pretty badly. He looked a lot like he had when I'd first met him: covered in soot. Unlike Augustus and me, soot looked normal on the son of Hephaestus. What didn't look normal was the angle at which his left arm was bent. When he made it over, Brittney put the left arm in a sling. "Alright, that should keep it from moving too much until a doctor can get it into a cast at the hospital."

"Thank you, ma'am," Jake said politely. He climbed into the back with Gus and I.

"You guys okay to ride back here on your own?" the male EMT asked.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," I said. He and Brittney buckled us into seats in the back, then closed the doors. They went around to the front and climbed in. I heard the engine start, and we were moving.

"You guys okay?" Jake asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Bit of a concussion, but otherwise relatively unscathed." Gus just nodded. He was obviously still fuming about what had happened. Jake frowned. I cleared my throat to ease the awkwardness, then whispered, "Look, I've got an idea. Jake, you found out where we have to go next?"

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. Like mine, the screen was badly damaged, but it seemed to be working. "Yeah. It's not great news for us. The signal originated from a place just outside of Cartwright."

"Where's that?" Gus asked. It seemed he was willing to put aside his anger at Jake to figure out what we were going to do next.

"Canada," Jake said. "Pretty far north, too. It's in Newfoundland and Labrador."

"What do dogs have to do with anything?"

I wanted to face-palm, but it probably wouldn't have helped with my concussion. "It's the name of a province in Canada, doofus."

"It's right along the Atlantic coast," Jake went on. Of course it was. Marina could use water powers, why wouldn't she set up right next to the ocean? "If we drive straight there it'll take about twenty-six hours."

Gus's eyes bugged out. "Twenty-six hours? It took us all day yesterday to do eleven hours of driving. And we still didn't make it all the way to the radio tower. How are we going to do twenty-six hours in time?"

"We just won't be able to stop for long," I said. "But we can do it. We've got time. We just need a car."

"Uh, we don't exactly have passports," Jake pointed out. "I mean, I've got my enhanced license, so I can cross into Canada fine, but you guys…"

"We'll have to sneak across the border," I said regretfully. "But we can do it." I looked to Gus. It was his quest. He had final say on the matter.

He sighed. "Alright, let's do it. Any ideas on getting us a ride?"

I frowned. Honestly, I'd been so caught up in re-energizing my friends that I hadn't given that matter a whole lot of thought. Still, I did see one option, even though I didn't like it. "Er… we could borrow a vehicle."

"Who's going to let three minors borrow a car?" Gus asked.

I felt like face-palming again. Across from me, Jake sighed. "She means we steal a car."

"Oh," Gus said. "Gotcha. What car?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. When we get to the hospital maybe you can convince someone to give us their car?"

Gus stroked his chin. "Nah, I've got a better idea." With that he leaned forward towards the driver section and spoke up, "Hey, listen, where exactly are we headed?"

"The hospital," the male EMT said from the driver seat.

Jake and I looked at each other, then rolled our eyes in unison.

"Right," Gus said slowly, "but I kinda meant the name of the town."

Brittney turned slightly in the passenger seat and said exasperatedly, "Honestly, Scott, you can be so dense sometimes." Then to Augustus she said, "It's not really in a town, but it's in the St. Francis area. Do you kids need to call your parents? Tell them where you are?"

I frowned. What _would_ my parents think if I called them? _Hey Mom, Dad, I know I promised I'd be careful this summer, but I'm in a hospital in Maine because I nearly got blown up on a quest. Can you come pick me up and drive me and my friends to Canada so we can finish our quest?_ Yeah, that conversation would go real well.

When Augustus spoke next, he'd turned on the charmspeak. "Actually, my friends and I are doing a lot better now. We don't need to go to the hospital."

"You – you don't?" Brittney said uncertainly. I felt a little bad. She'd been kind to us. But we didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. We were on a schedule, and it was a pretty tight one.

"No, we don't," Augustus repeated. "What we need is a ride to the nearest car dealership."

* * *

 **AN: And that's it guys. Also, fun news! We're about halfway there! See you guys on Tuesday with the next chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11: I Redirect a River

**AN: Hey guys! Hope everyone is doing well! As I always say, I want to thank everyone for any and all support you've shown the story so far. I really means a lot to me.**

 **Alright, time for the chapter! I hope you enjoy it. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 11: I Redirect a River

An hour later we were driving down the road in our brand new car. Gus had charmspoken the car salesman. It had taken a little more effort from him than usual, but in the end we'd gotten away in the new car.

Jake kept drumming the fingers of his good arm on the steering wheel. Gus finally snapped, "Dude, no one's after us yet. Chill out. We didn't _steal_ the car."

"We pretty much did," Jake said nervously. "And you said it yourself, the dealership guys would probably come to his senses after half an hour and call the police."

"And you said we should be able to get across the border by then," Gus countered. "Once we're in Canada, there's not much they can do."

Jake opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "Will you two stop arguing? Look, Gus, I know you're still upset at Jake, but it's over. We have a quest to finish, and we can't succeed if you two are at each other's throats. And Jake, you need to calm down. The police aren't after us yet, so just chill." The boys shut up. "Now, let's focus on more important matters. How are we going to get into Canada? And why would Marina set up there?"

Jake and Gus remained silent, clearly lacking an answer. That or both of them were mad at me now. I decided to be optimistic and believe it was the first one. But why Canada, though? It really didn't make any sense. It seemed unnecessarily out of the way. Maybe she wanted us to have trouble crossing the border, but it just couldn't be _that_ simple. Surely there was another reason for it? If Marina just wanted her place to be difficult to get to, there were plenty of places in the United States that would've worked just as well.

And what was going to happen when we got there? Jake and Gus were both pissed at each other. They needed to get their act together. I didn't particularly feel like fighting monsters while my teammates were fighting each other. I missed Theo and Jocelyn. Speaking of which, the silence was broken by the ringtone I'd set for Jocelyn.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and managed to read the words on the display: _Video call from Jocelyn Clement_. I tapped the answer button and Jocelyn's face filled up the cracked screen. "What's up Jacks – oh shit. You look terrible."

"Gee, thanks, Joce," I replied sarcastically. "Really what I like to hear from my best friend."

"I just tell it like it is," she replied. "Anyway, what happened to you?"

"Well we almost got blown up," I said. "We're all okay, but you know. I've got a concussion. Jake broke an arm. Normal stuff."

Theo elbowed himself into the frame. "Did you just say you got a concussion? Are you icing it?"

I rolled my eyes, but suppressed a smile. It was good to see both of them again. "Hello, yourself, Theo. And no, I don't exactly have any ice to put on it."

Theo frowned. "Well take it easy, will you? Don't hurt your head any worse than it already is."

"Yes, sir, Dr. Solaris," I said snarkily.

Theo was undeterred. "What about Jake and Augustus? Are they doing okay?"

I pressed the button to switch cameras so I could show him Gus and Jake, who were both sitting up front. "Broken arm, I see," Theo muttered in reference to Jake. "Leave it in that sling and get it in a cast as soon as possible. Gus, how are you? Anything hurt?"

"You've got your friends calling me Gus now, too?" Augustus complained.

"Alright, Theo, that's enough," Jocelyn said, taking her phone back from him. I flipped the camera back so it was facing me again. "Other than almost dying, how's the quest going? What are you doing?"

"Driving to Canada in a stolen car," I explained.

Jocelyn grinned. "Stolen, eh? I'm proud!"

"It's not stolen," Augustus complained from the front. "I charmspoke the guy to get him to give us the car. It's not stealing."

"It counts as stealing," Jocelyn said. "Also, did you say Canada? What the hell, Elizabeth? You wouldn't let us go to Canada on _our_ quest." I remembered going to Niagara Falls with my friends on my quest last year. Jocelyn had really wanted to go to the Canadian side, but I'd told her we had to stay on the American side.

"Our quest didn't require us to go to Canada," I countered. "This one does. Marina is apparently way up along the North Atlantic coast. You don't have any idea why she decided to set up way up there, do you?"

Jocelyn didn't miss a beat in answering. "Well the gods don't operate very well in the north, do they?"

"They don't?"

"No, they don't," Jocelyn confirmed. "I feel like that's something you should've known, Wise Girl."

My eye twitched. "Don't call me that," I said, exasperated. "That's Dad's nickname for my mom."

"But it annoys you," Jocelyn said slowly, like she was explaining something to a child. "Why wouldn't I call you that?"

"Can we get back to the Canada thing?" I interrupted.

Jocelyn laughed. "I really ruffled your feathers, didn't I? Alright, well here's the deal. The gods can't really operate in the north. Even Boreas – he's the god of the north wind –"

"I know who Boreas is," I scoffed.

"Hey, Joce," Theo said from off camera, "I know you miss her and all, but that doesn't mean you should be a bitch." Jocelyn reached a hand off-screen, I heard a smacking sound, and Theo said, "Ow."

When she turned back to the camera, she was smirking. "Anyway, yeah. Gods don't do very well in the north. Even Boreas doesn't operate much farther north than Quebec City. So depending on where exactly in Canada Marina is, that might be the explanation. She doesn't want divine intervention."

I nodded. That made sense. After all, Gaius had done something similar when he'd hidden Persephone in that old Aztec temple. "That's probably it, then. Smart of her."

"Agreed," Jocelyn said. "Your enemy knows what she's doing."

"How are things at camp?" I asked.

"Well Vanessa is still freaking out, as expected," Jocelyn said. "Some of the other campers are getting riled up, too. Mike has really been important in keeping everyone calm. But I don't know, Elizabeth. If Marina calls us again, I don't know that order can be maintained."

"So we'll make sure to stop her before then," I said.

"You be careful," Theo said, appearing on screen again. "I know you're on a quest and don't have much of a choice, but take it as easy as possible, alright? That goes for all three of you."

"What he said," Jocelyn said. "You guys can do it. I know you can."

"Hey, Elizabeth," Jake said from up front. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're getting close to the border."

"And that's our cue," Jocelyn said. "Bye, Elizabeth."

"Bye Joce, bye Theo," I said. My friends waved, and the line went.

"We're only a couple minutes from the border crossing," Jake said. "Any ideas?"

I leaned back in my seat, putting my phone away, thinking. "Pull over," I said.

* * *

We pulled off to the side of the road. We were still about a mile from the official border crossing. Across the road were some low trees and bushes. Past that was a river. The sky was turning really dark with foreboding rain clouds. The wind whipped around us. Gus glanced around nervously. "I really don't like this storm," he said quietly.

"Not a storm yet," I said lightly. I turned to Jake. "Canada is across that river?"

He nodded. "Yeah. St. John's River. There's a bridge up ahead that's the border crossing, but obviously we can't just drive across it. We'll have to find another way across."

I stared across the road into the trees and bushes. The branches were shaking violently in the wind, the wood creaking ominously. "Well, let's get down to the river and scope it out. Maybe we can swim across or something?"

Augustus nodded. "Sounds good. But keep your guard up, guys. I've got a bad feeling about this storm that's coming."

"What about the car?" Jake asked. "Just leave it here?"

"Well we can't very well take it across the river with us," I said. "We'll have to find a new one on the other side. Besides, if we leave it behind it'll be harder for the police to follow us."

Gus nodded. "Good thinking, but why don't we put it in neutral and push into the tree-line?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Nice one, Gus. Let's do it."

Augustus blushed slightly. "Thanks. Jake, since you've got a messed up arm, you can steer. Elizabeth and I will push."

It didn't take very long to push the car off the road. After making sure it was safely hidden from the road, we crossed to the other side and began making our way through the foliage to the river. The entire way down, the hairs on the back of my neck continued to stand on end. I kept my hand grasped firmly on the hilt of my sword. The wind seemed to pick up even more. I kept thinking that someone – or something – was following us, but whenever I glanced around there was no one.

After a couple of tense minutes, we made it down to the river. It sped past us in white rapids. The wind whipped my hair around so much I was having trouble seeing. I wished my hair ties had survived the radio tower explosion. "Well this is pleasant," I remarked dryly.

"Do you still think we could swim across?" Gus asked.

I frowned slightly and knelt at the riverbank. One of the tricks Katherine had taught me towards the end of last summer was a technique she called "reading the water." If done right, you could get a measure of how deep the water was, how fast it was moving, and sometimes even whether the river's nymph was friendly. I could only do it successfully sometimes, but I figured it was worth a shot.

I placed my palm on the surface of the water and concentrated. To my pleasant surprise, it worked. Unfortunately, I didn't think swimming across would be an option. "The river is deceptively deep," I said, standing back up. "And as fast as the water on the surface is moving, the riptide is killer. I could make it across, but there's no way you guys could. Especially not with your bad arm, Jake. What about flying us across, Gus?"

Augustus frowned. "I wouldn't trust myself to do it. This wind is really tricky. I'd have a hard time controlling it, especially with three of us."

"Maybe we could follow the river for a bit," Jake said. "See if there's a better place to stop?"

"Who knows how long that will take," Augustus said. "I'd like to get to Canada sometime before nightfall."

I sighed and pulled out Marianas. "There is another option," I said hesitantly. I had an idea to get us across the river, but I was worried. There was a pretty good chance that what I was about to suggest could kill me. "I could lift the water out of its banks and we could walk under it."

Augustus and Jake frowned. "You think you can do it?"

I pressed the trident button. I got the familiar buzz of energy I was used to whenever Marianas went into trident mode. "I think so. We'll have to be fast, and I warn you, I'll probably be out of commission for a while after." _If I survive_ , I thought.

Jake looked at Augustus, who seemed to be considering it. Finally, after a couple minutes of deliberation, he nodded. "Let's give it a shot."

I turned back towards the river, lifted Marianas high over my head, and yelled. There was an extremely painful tug in my gut, then the river surged out of its banks, forming an arch as it flowed up and then back down again. Instantly my vision started to swim. I began to heat up uncomfortably.

"Go, quickly," I grunted.

Gus and Jake clambered down into the riverbed. I staggered as I followed them down, but Gus caught me and helped me regain my balance. I managed to keep the river up. Already my peripheral vision was failing. The wind was worse than ever down here; the river's arch was a perfect wind tunnel. I just focused on moving forward, but keeping my balance got harder with each step.

And then, halfway across, shit hit the fan. The wind was practically hurricane force, carrying cackling voices with it. Augustus drew his sword, Jake hefted his hammer. I just stood still, focusing on keeping up the river. My clothes were drenched with sweat. The pain in my gut was almost unbearable. I had never had a worse headache in my life. I wanted to die just so the pain would stop.

The cackling got progressively louder, and then suddenly we were surrounded by human figures made of wind. Augustus swore. "Venti."

I coughed, splattering the ground with blood. That couldn't be good.

One of the venti stepped – or floated, rather – forward. His smile was like lightning. "Well I'll be," he said. "Marcus was right in thinking there would be survivors."

An alarm bell went off in my head. I recognized that name. "Marcus? Who's that?" Gus asked.

One of the other venti laughed. "He works for Gaius, just like the woman you three are undoubtedly trying to reach."

"Gaius?" Augustus asked.

A third venti laughed. "Ask your girlfriend. She knows who we're talking about."

Jake and Gus looked at me, confused. Normally I would have felt uneasy about all this. These venti had come here on Marcus's orders? Because I remembered the name. I'd met him last summer. And more than that, they recognized me. They knew who I was, they knew that I'd met Gaius. Which meant they knew I was important to Gaius. But I couldn't focus on any of that because I was in too much pain. Still, I managed to say, "Tell… later. Need… get… across." I coughed again, sending blood flying.

The venti laughed again. "Poor granddaughter of Poseidon. Gaius wants you left alive, but these two are of no consequence to him. All we need to do is get you to drop the river. It will kill your friends, and you'll live. Won't be long now."

Gus had apparently heard enough. He yelled and swiped his sword through one of the venti. It burst apart. The venti swarmed us. Jake swung his hammer around, but it kept passing through them harmlessly. The venti jostled me. They swirled around me, knocking me back and forth. I was dangerously close to losing my balance.

And then suddenly they backed off and Augustus had his left arm wrapped around my shoulders. In his right, he swung his sword in a deadly arc, vaporizing the venti. Gus put a little bit of pressure on my back and began walking forward, pulling me with him. He yelled something to Jake, but I couldn't understand what he'd said. I'd lost all sense of the English language. My peripheral vision was completely gone now. I locked my eyes on the opposite riverbank and just focused on each step. Only ten more yards and we'd be there…

Something slammed into my side. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. The river dropped. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The river was breaking apart above us, crashing down in separate streams and droplets. I found my friends. Jake was a few feet away staring up in horror. Augustus was right next to me on the ground, his arm still around my shoulders, looking grim. I wasn't about to let them die. With the last vestiges of strength I had, I thrust my trident back into the air.

Time returned to normal. The river exploded back upwards. Augustus pulled me to my feet and practically carried me out of the riverbed. Jake followed right on our heels. As soon as we made it to the shore, Gus thrust out his hands and sent a huge blast of wind under the arch, trapping the venti underneath. I dropped the river.

With an almighty crash, it fell, soaking everything within a hundred foot radius and destroying the venti. I fell to the ground. Marianas left my hand and changed back to sword form. It was absolutely silent, though I didn't know whether that was because it was actually silent, or because my sense of sound had failed completely.

Augustus let his sword drop to his side and smiled down at me. Then the look on his face changed to dismay. I guess I looked pretty bad. He knelt down next to me and tried to say something, but I couldn't hear him.

Then, out of the tree behind him, two giant scorpions emerged from the woods. I tried to say something, but my voice was gone. Gus whirled around, but he didn't get his sword up in time. Jake jumped in front of the scorpion's stinger, taking the blow for Gus.

I couldn't hold on to consciousness any longer. The last thing I saw before blacking out entirely was a streak of silver striking one of the scorpions right between its beady eyes…

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 **AN: Alright guys, see you this weekend! (Mwahahaha, I just love cliffhangers)**


	12. Chapter 12: The Boys Don't Get Turned

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry this is so much later than I usually post. But here it is. Better late than never, right? Anyway guys, as always, thanks for the support. I really appreciate all the favorites, follows, reviews, and views I've gotten. Unfortunately because some things came up I didn't have as much time to edit for spelling and grammar as I usually like :(** **I hope it's relatively free of errors.**

 **Alright, here's the next chapter! I'll see you guys on Tuesday! DFTBA!**

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Chapter 12: The Boys Don't Get Turned into Jackrabbits

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, my first indication that I had not died was that I was dreaming. I was back in Erin's apartment. Erin was sitting on the couch, holding a baby Gaius. He was crying. "Shh," Erin was saying. "Shh, it's okay Lukas, it's okay." But her eyes were fixed on the television, and I understood why. The images on the TV looked like a news broadcast about doomsday.

The newscaster was in St. Louis, standing not too far from the Arch. The city was dark as midnight the thunderclouds were so thick. Lightning shrieked across the sky. The booms of thunder were deafening even through the TV speakers A few blocks away from where the reporter stood a huge column of smoke and dust rose from a mountain of rubble. Based on its surroundings, I guessed it had once been a skyscraper.

The reporter had to yell into her microphone to be heard over the wind, rain, and thunder. Her hair was defying gravity it was being whipped around so hard. "Officials are describing this as a structural failure, Dan, though no one seems to know if it is related to the storm conditions. Thankfully, the building had been abandoned for demolition. But the police have evacuated all nearby buildings for fear the collapse might trigger –"

She went silent as an ominous groan went through the sky. The biggest bolt of lightning I'd ever seen blasted into the center of the storm. Erin gasped slightly, and I could hardly blame her. Even through the TV, I could practically feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I knew that only one thing could be that powerful: Zeus's master bolt. Suddenly, I saw a fist emerge from the clouds. I sincerely doubted that any mortals saw it. Erin certainly didn't seem to. The fist punched another skyscraper, toppling it over like children's blocks. There was only one thing the television report Erin was watching could be showing. Dad had told me about this. It was the gods fighting Typhon. Which meant that in just a few days' time, Luke Castellan would die.

The reporter screamed and suddenly the TV went dark. The feed cut back to the studio. The anchorman was white as a sheet and gaping slightly. "It seems we have lost our video feed with Kathy. We can only hope she's made it to safety."

I glanced back over at Erin and noticed something else. She was holding onto the pendant Luke gave her so hard it was cutting into her hand.

* * *

My dream changed. Erin was standing in a room of her apartment I hadn't seen. I guessed it had formerly been the room I figured had been the study the first time I'd visited her apartment. Now it was clearly the baby's room. Anyway, she was standing over Gaius's crib. Her hair was a rat's nest. She wore a pair of gym shorts and a ratty old t-shirt. Clearly she'd been woken up in the middle of the night. If I had to guess, I would've said the baby had woken up.

Gaius was asleep now, though. He looked surprisingly peaceful lying in the crib, sound asleep. Erin sighed. "Oh, Luke, I wish you could be here to see our beautiful baby boy." Erin yawned widely. She continued to stare down at her son for a few more minutes before turning and quietly leaving her son's room.

She closed the door softly behind her and went across the way to her room. The clock on the bedside table read "4:00 AM." The date readout was what really caught my attention, though. It read 8/18. August eighteenth. That was a very important date for demigods, and especially for my family. It was my dad's birthday. Which meant it was also the day the Second Titan War came to an end. I knew what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, Erin glanced at her bedside table. The pendant Luke had given her was resting there. Erin looked at it for the briefest of moments, then turned away, only to turn back to it immediately. The gem was clear now, which meant that Luke was dead.

She clapped her hands over her mouth and fell to her knees, sobbing.

* * *

Once again my dream changed. I was in a different place now. The room I was standing in was a living room, but it was larger than Erin's apartment living room. It wasn't combined with the kitchen and dining room, either. There were several doors leading off into other rooms and an open space in the wall that led into the dining room and kitchen areas. A short wall separated the entry way from the living room. I wandered over and looked at the front door, which had a couple of those glazed panes of glass in it.

As far as I could tell, I was alone, but that didn't last for long. The sound of a lock turning reached my ears and the front door swung open. It was Erin, dressed in professional clothes, and a young Gaius, who couldn't have been more than five years old. He was starting to take on some of the looks I associated with his adult self. He had the same frame in miniature that he'd have in the future. Over his shoulders he was carrying a child's Iron Man backpack. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that Erin had just picked him up from his first day of school after work.

"– and then we had recess," Gaius was saying excitedly.

"Wow, honey, that sounds awesome," Erin replied, hanging up her overcoat on the coat rack. "I'm so happy you had such a great first day of school." Hey, I was right!

Gaius had already bounded over to the sofa. Erin came around the small wall that separated the entryway from the living room. She smiled fondly at her son, who was bouncing up and down on the sofa. But suddenly, his face turned really serious and he stopped bouncing. Erin frowned. She came over and sat next to him. "What's wrong, honey?"

"I have a question mommy," he said, his creepy golden eyes locking onto his mother's face, full of curiosity. "Why don't I have a daddy?"

Erin coughed. "Why – why do you ask that?"

"All my new friends were talking about their daddies," Gaius said. "Some of them even had two daddies," he added, his eyes wide and sincere. "Why don't I have a daddy?"

Erin sighed, clearly not entirely sure how to answer. I could tell by the look on her face that she still missed Luke terribly, too. "It's a very long story, honey. I can't tell you all of it until you're older. But you used to have a daddy. You're named after him."

"My daddy was named Lukas?"

"No, his name was just Luke," Erin said. "Your daddy was a very brave man. He was trying to make the world a better place, but it didn't work out well."

"So where is he now?" Gaius asked. The intelligence that young boy was already demonstrating was terrifying. He was following everything Erin said without any questions, which was not something many five year olds were able to do.

Erin sighed. "Your daddy is gone. He's…"

"Is daddy dead?" Gaius asked.

I almost yelped. Death was not a concept that five year olds usually understood. Erin seemed taken aback, too, but she nodded. "Yes, honey. Your daddy is dead."

* * *

My eyes opened. I felt surprisingly good. I wasn't disoriented or anything. No headache, no soreness, nothing. _Maybe I did die_ , I thought. Except I had visited the Underworld before, and I definitely wasn't there. I was definitely in some kind of tent. The ceiling above me was made of canvas, and I was laying on a cot underneath fur blankets. In fact, the whole tent was furnished in various pelts and furs. If PETA were to see this, they'd have a conniption fit.

I lay there thinking everything over. I remembered crossing the river, though it was all kind of a haze. I had been on the verge of passing out the entire way across. There was no way I was ever doing something like that again. Then after getting across, we'd been attacked by a couple of giant scorpions. That is, assuming I hadn't been hallucinating at that point. I wasn't too worried about my friends though. Obviously someone was taking care of us, or I wouldn't be laying in a tent feeling in top shape. Still, I wondered why Gus and Jake weren't in the tent with me.

I also thought about my most recent batch of dreams. Gaius had shown far too much intelligence for a five year old. Perhaps it was because he was the son of Kronos, or maybe he was just really smart. Whatever the case, I needed to know more.

 _First thing's first_ , I thought. _Gotta find the other two and get going. We've got a quest to finish._

I sat up, pushing the fur covers off of me. That's when I realized I was naked. "Oh great," I muttered. "No clothes. Well, at least I'm alone."

That's when the tent's flap opened and someone walked in. Instinctively I pulled the covers back over myself. "Relax," said a voice I didn't recognize. I looked over at the person who'd just entered. She looked about twelve with strawberry blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. She was dressed in silver and grey camo and was holding a bag. "My name's Celia," she said calmly. "It's good to see you awake."

I sat up again, but kept the covers pulled over me. It wouldn't have been a huge deal around girls I knew, like Jocelyn or Sierra Grace, but I didn't know Celia at all. It just made me a little uncomfortable. "You're a Hunter," I observed. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, it's just…"

"My lady will explain everything," Celia assured me, which I took to mean Artemis. It appeared I was going to get an audience with a goddess.

"I suppose she'll explain why you stole my stuff?" I asked.

"Your clothes were damaged to the point they were unusable," Celia said, impatience coming into her voice. She held up the bag. "I've got some new clothes for you in here, as well as your cell phone."

"And my sword?" I asked, looking around and not finding it.

"Your male friends are holding onto it for you," Celia said. She tossed me the bag she was holding. "Now if we're done with question and answer, I'm supposed to take you to see my lady."

I cleared my throat awkwardly, but Celia didn't seem to get the hint that I wanted to put clothes on in privacy. Or maybe she was just being obstinate. At any rate, I opened the bag and pulled out my new clothes. They were the same style as the clothes Celia was wearing, except they were all black instead of silver and grey: cargo pants, combat boots (the heavy duty kind, not the designer ones), and a black tank top. There was even a hair tie in there so I could put my hair back in a ponytail. After pulling my phone from one of the bag's side pockets and putting it into one of my pants pockets, I was all set.

"Alright, let's go see your boss," I said to Celia.

Celia obliged and pushed open the tent's flap. I followed her outside. The sky above us was pitch black. Clearly it was very late. All around us, the Hunters' campsite bustled. We were right on the banks of the river my friends and I had crossed earlier. Fires blazed warmly. Around each an assortment of girls sat together, laughing, eating, and generally having a good time. Wolves roamed around the campsite, too. Occasionally one of the Hunter's would toss some meat to a wolf.

I blinked. It looked like they'd been here for a while. "Uh… how long was I out?"

"Several hours," Celia said. "It's about four in the morning."

Oh good, same time it was in one of the dreams I'd just had. Nothing at all creepy about that. "And my friends?" I asked. "I assume they're okay?"

Celia frowned. "Yes, the boys are fine. First time in ten years boys have visited the Hunt's campsite."

"What happened the last time?" I asked.

"My lady turned them into jackrabbits," Celia said. She sighed. "Sadly we won't be doing that this time. The boys are apparently important. And one of them is the lieutenant's nephew." She sighed again. "Shame, too. I really like it when Artemis turns boys into jackrabbits."

"Right," I said slowly.

Celia came to a stop outside a tent that was a bit larger than the others. "This is my lady's tent. Be on your best behavior in front of the goddess."

I raised my eyebrows. I got the feeling that Celia wasn't the hugest fan of me. That, or she was just a rude person. Either way, I took the cue and entered the tent.

Inside there were two people sitting with their heads close together, deep in whispered conversation. The younger looking of the two looked about twelve. She had auburn hair and freaky silvery eyes. The older of the two was fifteen or sixteen, with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. Of course, looks were deceiving. I knew for a fact that the twelve year old was actually much older. Like, a few thousand years older.

Artemis and Thalia glanced up when I entered the tent. Thalia broke into a grin. "Elizabeth! You've gotten taller since I last saw you!" She climbed to her feet and hugged me briefly. I grinned. Thalia was so cool.

"Hey Thalia," I said. "It's good to see you." Once Thalia had backed up, I turned to Artemis and bowed. "Lady Artemis, it is a pleasure to see you again. You look… er… younger than when I saw you last summer."

"When I have business to attend to on Mt. Olympus I appear as an adult," she said. "Otherwise, the other Olympians do not take me seriously. But when I am among my Hunters, I like to appear this way. Twelve is the average age of my Hunters, though we, of course, have older and younger members. Please, Elizabeth Jackson, sit."

I did. Thalia sat back down next to Artemis and adjusted the tiara that marked her as her lieutenant. "Thank you for saving my life," I said. "And my friends' lives, too. But um… I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here, my lady?"

"We have been hunting the giant scorpions that attacked you for two days now," Artemis explained. "They are surprisingly quick and stealthy. However, when they caught your scent it slowed them enough so that we could catch them."

"And then you stayed behind?" I wondered.

"Oh, don't be thick Elizabeth," Thalia said. "Where are those Athena smarts you got from your mom? You're a maiden and you were on the verge of death. Of course we stayed to help."

"I have already spoken to the boys," Artemis went on. "I know what the three of you are attempting to do. They mentioned the venti that attacked you mentioning a man called Marcus and Gaius?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, the venti mentioned them."

"My nephew seems to think you know who Gaius is," Thalia said. I blinked. Did Thalia really not know who Gaius was? Unless, of course, Artemis was doing as Zeus had ordered and wasn't talking about Gaius at all. But the next thing Thalia said made me disregard my previous thoughts. "So you haven't told Augustus yet?"

I shook my head slowly. "Chiron thought it would be best to just focus on this quest. And at any rate, Zeus said –"

"My father is being a moron," Thalia said bluntly. "And he never learns his lesson."

"Zeus is repeating the mistakes of the past," Artemis agreed. "While I cannot directly disobey him, I still find ways to fight the son of Kronos. The giant scorpions, for instance. I have good reason to believe that Gaius or one of those working under him set them loose."

I nodded. That made sense. "Speaking of those working under him," Thalia said. "The Marcus guy that the venti mentioned. Do you know anything about him?"

"Not a whole lot," I said. "I know he works for Gaius. He was there last summer when I went to save Persephone. Other than that, I don't really know much. I know that the woman who's holding Alex de Marco is also working for Gaius."

"Yes, we pieced together that much," Artemis said. "Tell me, Elizabeth. Do you know why Gaius would be interested in the son of Zeus?"

I shrugged. "It must have something to do with what his quest was, but no one will tell us what his prophecy was. I don't suppose you'd be able to tell me, my lady?"

Artemis shook her head. "I apologize, Elizabeth, but even if I did know the prophecy I would not be able to tell you. It is not my place to do so."

I sighed, but continued. "Well before I left camp, I was told by Elesa from the Athena cabin that she overheard him arguing with his sister just before he left on the quest. Their mother was mentioned. It's the only lead I have. As strange as it seems, I think that his quest has something to do with his mortal mother."

"His mortal mother?" Thalia wondered. "What would Gaius want with an ordinary mortal?"

I shook my head, just as perplexed as she was. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that she isn't ordinary, but I can't think of what would make her extraordinary."

Thalia ran a hand through her spiky hair. "Well whatever he wants from her, it can't be good."

Artemis nodded. "I agree, but there's not much we can do about that without directly disobeying Zeus. The best we can do is continue to hunt the worst of the monsters Gaius is calling on and trust that Elizabeth and her friends will succeed. And it is imperative that you do," she added to me.

"My lady?" I asked, confused.

"The son of Zeus must be rescued," Artemis said. "If he dies, Zeus will become even more unreasonable than he currently is, but if you save Alex de Marco, then it is possible that we can make Zeus understand the danger posed by the son of Kronos."

"I understand," I said. "We'll succeed. I know we can do it."

Thalia grinned. "Confidence. I like it."

"Celia," Artemis called. Celia poked her head into the tent. "Fetch the boys. I have some last things to say to our guests." Celia nodded and departed.

There was the briefest of silences before Thalia brought up the question she usually asked me. "So, Elizabeth, thought about joining the Hunters?"

For some reason, my thoughts jumped immediately to Augustus. My face burned. Great, just _thinking_ about him made me embarrassed now. "Uh… I don't think that Hunters are for me."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Got a crush on a boy? Who? Anyone I know?"

I was spared answering by the arrival of Jake and Augustus, but I'm pretty sure my face got even redder. Thalia noticed, because she gave me a knowing look and smirked. They looked cleaner, and they'd definitely gotten medical attention, too. Jake's arm seemed to be all better. However, they were still wearing their ripped and burnt clothes from earlier. I guess the Hunters didn't have any boys' clothes to give them.

Artemis motioned for them to sit and they did. "Thank gods you're alright," Gus said to me once they'd settled in. "I was worried. Oh by the way, here's your sword."

I cleared my throat awkwardly as I took Marianas from him. "Yeah, I'm doing alright. Good to see you two haven't gotten yourselves filled with arrows yet."

"A few of the Hunters looked like they'd like nothing better," Jake said with a snort.

"Well you are boys," Thalia put in.

"Now that you're all caught up," Artemis said, "it's time we got to business. You are running out of time. In just two days the son of Zeus will be killed. If you attempt to go straight there I foresee that you will be delayed and unable to reach your destination in time."

"Then what should we do, my lady?" Augustus asked. "How do we succeed?"

"You must go to Quebec City," Artemis said. "There you'll find Boreas, lord of the north wind. If you can convince him to help you, he can speed you on your way to the son of Zeus."

"Sorry to interrupt my lady," Jake said, "but Quebec City adds five hours to the trip."

"You will not succeed without this detour," Artemis insisted. "Now, you'll have to be careful around Boreas. He tends to be… difficult during the summer months. But his assistance is necessary to your success."

"There's a car dealership about a mile from here," Thalia went on. "If you hurry, you can steal a car from there before it opens."

"We're stealing another car?" I asked, exasperated.

"I'm guessing I shouldn't tell dad you told us to steal a car," Gus said to Thalia.

"Not if you know what's good for you," Thalia said dangerously.

Celia poked her head back in. "My lady, I have the supplies you asked me to pack." Artemis motioned for her to come in. She had a black pack in her hand. Celia handed it to me. "You'll find some ambrosia squares and nectar in there. Also some mortal money, some golden drachmas, and a jacket for you. It may be summer, but as you go farther north it will get a little chilly."

"Thanks," I said.

"Uh, I don't suppose you have jackets for Jake and I?" Gus asked.

Celia's nostrils flared. "Do you think we have clothes for boys? I'd suggest you find someplace to purchase some clothes."

"Thank you Celia," Artemis said, clearly trying to cut off an argument before one got started. "Tell the others to pack up. Sunrise is fast approaching, and we should be moving before then."

"Yes, my lady," Celia said. She gave Artemis a short bow, then left. I stood and swung my new backpack over my shoulder. Gus and Jake stood, too.

Thalia climbed to her feet and hugged me again. "Good luck, Elizabeth. Try to make sure Augustus doesn't kill himself."

"Hey!" Gus protested.

Thalia hugged him, too. "You be good, or I'll have words with your parents."

"Yeah, yeah, Aunt Thals," Gus said. "I'll be good."

"Good luck, heroes," Artemis said.

We left the tent. Already the Hunters had completely disassembled their campsite. Jake took the lead. "Come on, guys," he said. "According to my phone, the car dealership they mentioned is this way." We walked into the tree line. When I looked back, the Hunters were already gone.

* * *

 **AN: Alright guys! Have a good next few days!**


	13. Chapter 13: Augustus Save the Day

**AN: Alright guys! Time for the next chapter! I particularly love this one, so I'm extra excited to share it with you all. As always, I'd like to thank everyone so much for supporting this story in any way that you do. I know I say this every chapter, but it really does mean a lot to me, and I really appreciate all and any support I've gotten for these stories.**

 **We're getting pretty far in now. I'm shooting for just about 20 chapters, just like the first book. As I write the final drafts of chapters I might make them longer or shorter or switch things around, so we may end up with a little more or a little less than 20 chapters. At any rate, after this week there'll only be three more weeks' worth of chapters to go before we get to the end. I may do something special like more frequent uploads when we get towards the end, but we'll see. Ideally, I would like to be done with book 2 by Thanksgiving (that's November 26th, for non-US residents). Shouldn't be a problem, of course, I just wanted to let you know what my thought process is for the remainder of the book.**

 **Alright, that's more than enough from me. You guys are here for the chapter, and I am here to deliver. I hope you enjoy. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 13: Augustus Saves the Day

"So, Elizabeth, who exactly is Gaius?" Augustus asked as we made our way through the woods towards the car dealership.

I sighed in exasperation. "Now? We're doing this now? Can't it wait until we're in our next car?"

"Look, we were almost just killed by venti working for him," Gus said hotly. "And by the way, those venti also knew about Marina, so obviously it's important to the quest. I'm getting tired of my friends holding out on me. I thought I could trust you Elizabeth."

Anger and shame flared inside me in equal measures. "Okay, first of all, doofus, the venti said they worked for Marcus, not for Gaius, they just mentioned Gaius. Get your facts straight if you're going to berate me. Secondly, you don't get to tell me what I have to share with you. If something is my business, it's _my_ prerogative whether or not I share it. So why don't you just shut up about what I should or shouldn't be doing Mr. Leader unless you want to be speaking in soprano the rest of your life!"

Gus's face was beat red now. He opened his mouth, no doubt to yell at me, but Jake finally spoke up. "Lay off her, Augustus. You know she's right."

"Oh sure, the two secret keepers side with each other," Augustus said. "Completely typical."

"Jake apologized," I said sharply. "Let it go, already! You're mad at me, don't take it out on him!"

"Don't tell me how I feel," Gus retorted. "I'm mad at both of you! Clearly I made a mistake when I chose my quest partners."

That last bit stung more than anything else Augustus had said. Still, my anger outweighed my hurt at the moment. "Fine! I wish I wasn't on this stupid quest anyway. I wish I was back at camp with my real friends instead of out here risking my life for someone who doesn't give a rat's ass about me!"

" _I_ don't give a rat's ass?!" Gus said indignantly. "I've done nothing but care this whole quest! I'm not the one keeping secrets!"

"Shut up," Jake hissed.

"Don't you –"

"No, really, shut up," Jake said forcefully. "I hear voices up ahead."

We all fell silent. Sure enough, now that Gus and I weren't yelling at each other, I could hear unfamiliar voices up ahead, probably just beyond the tree line. All three of us looked at each other. "Do you think they heard us?" Augustus whispered.

"Gee, I wonder," I hissed. "You weren't exactly being quiet. It'd be a miracle if they didn't hear you shouting."

"I wasn't the only one shouting," Augustus responded.

"Will you two quit it?" Jake cut in. "Look, the only way we'll know for sure whether they heard us is to sneak up and see who they are and what they're up to. It's entirely possible that it's just a couple of normal mortals enjoying the nice pre-dawn air."

 _We aren't that lucky_ , I thought, but I didn't say anything. "Okay," I said. "Let's do that, then."

Jake and I looked at Augustus. Even though we were arguing, it _was_ still his quest, and deep down I knew it was right to defer to him on this. Gus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened them and nodded.

We crept forward, through the underbrush. We came to the edge of the woods and peeked out behind the trunks of trees. In front of us was a road with a small shopping strip. Right across the road was the car dealership. The area was over run. On the roofs of building, in the parking lots, even in the middle of the road, young adults in a combination of combat fatigues and ancient Greek armor patrolled, sat around fires, or just stood guard. They were all armed: the people on the rooftops had bows and arrows, the people standing or walking on the ground had swords or spears.

 _What is going on?_ I wondered. Were all these people demigods? How could it be possible there were so many rouge demigods? I'd seen several last summer in Mexico City, but there was at least twice that number in this shopping area. But what were they doing here? Did they somehow know we'd be coming this way?

The voices we'd heard were coming from right in front of us, just a couple feet away. Two members of this occupying force were standing with their backs to the tree line, one guy, one girl. "I don't understand why we're stationed here," the guy said. "Why is this mortal shopping area important?" So they _hadn't_ heard us? Talk about a lucky break. Or at least lucky for the-place-we-need-to-get-to-is-being-occupied-by-a-potentially-hostile-force.

His companion sighed. "Did you listen to the briefing?" she asked. "At all?"

"Naw, I sorta tuned it out," the guy said. "Every time Marcus gets going I just get so bored. I mean, the guy is _so long winded_ , you know?"

Marcus. So this was his doing, just like the venti. But why did he do this? What was the point? There was no other explanation except he somehow knew where we'd be. But how?

"Oh for Atlas's sake," the girl said, exasperated. I recoiled slightly. That wasn't an expression I'd ever heard before, but it just seemed wrong. "Look, you can't be part of this army and goof off all the time. We're supposed to be an elite fighting force. How are we going to overthrow the gods if you're incompetent all the time?"

"Whoa, chill out," the guy replied. "I'm perfectly good at this whole 'elite fighting force' thing, okay? I just don't understand why I have to listen to Marcus's boring lectures. Especially since I know you'll just tell me the important parts later."

I could almost imagine the girl's nostrils flaring. "I hate you so much right now," she said.

"No you don't," the guys said lightly.

The girl sighed. "Alright, pay attention moron, or I swear on my mother's grave I will make you wish you were in Tartarus."

"You have my full attention," the guy said in a mock-serious voice.

"You know the guy Marina captured, right?"

"The son of Zeus," the guy said. "What about him?"

"Well Marina sent a ransom video message to Camp Half-Blood," the girl said. "On Gaius's orders, of course. But all the commanders agreed that the campers would probably send out a rescue mission."

"How would they know where to go?" the guy asked.

"Because unlike you, there are some very smart campers, children of Athena or Hephaestus mostly, that could track the signal back to its source. Doing that would have led them to the radio tower that Marina routed the call through. Do you understand me so far, or do I need to slow down?"

"I'm doing alright," the guy said nonchalantly.

The girl muttered some unkind words under her breath. If we weren't in such a serious situation, I might have chuckled just a bit. As it was, I had no trouble keeping dead silent. They were giving us a gold mine of information and they didn't even know it. "The radio tower that Marina routed the signal through," the girl went on, "was rigged to explode if they tracked the signal back to its original source. That was something that Marcus suggested, though he wanted it to blow up without warning and as soon as someone tried to access the computer, but of course Marina had to screw with it because of her flare for dramatics. So that means there's a chance, however slim, that the campers survived."

"That still doesn't explain why we've been stationed here since yesterday," the guy complained.

"If you'd let me finish, you'd understand," the girl said, her voice changing in such a way that I knew her teeth were gritted. "Look, the way Marcus figures, if the campers did survive, then they know where Marina is. That means they'd need to cross into Canada, and the quickest way to cross the border would be crossing St. John's River, but chances are they wouldn't be able to get across legally."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because they wouldn't be able to take their car across," the girl snapped. "Which is why Marcus sent venti to the river, and why we're stationed at this car dealership."

The guy scoffed. "There are other car dealerships."

"Nowhere nearby," the girl said. "If they crossed the river anywhere nearby, this would be the best place for them to come for a car."

They both fell silent for a moment. I frowned. It was helpful knowing exactly why they were there, but I wanted more info. I looked at Jake and Gus, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion as me. Then, the guy spoke up again. "Why is the son of Zeus even still alive anyway? I thought you said Marina had gotten all she could out of him."

"Marcus said the same thing," the girl said. "But Gaius… well he seemed to think we could get something useful from Camp Half-Blood if we offered a trade."

"Even though they probably just sent a rescue mission? Why jeopardize everything like that?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't know. But Marcus thinks that Elizabeth Jackson might've gone on this rescue mission. And if Marcus thinks that, Gaius probably does too."

"Elizabeth Jackson," the guy said in awe. Jake and Augustus looked at me in wonder. I felt an uneasy squirming in my stomach. Did everyone that worked for Gaius know who I was? "But wait, I thought you said the whole 'blowing up the radio tower' thing was supposed to kill the campers. Why would Gaius let that happen? Isn't he obsessed with keeping Elizabeth Jackson alive?"

The girl looked at her friend in what I assumed was surprise. "Maybe you're not a total idiot. Yeah, I guess Marcus figures that Gaius thinks that if he and Elizabeth really are fated to fight one day, then she'll live."

"I figure he's right," the guy said.

The girl nodded. "Me too, but Marcus doesn't like it. Gaius's obsession with the fate he and this girl have together could put the whole plan in jeopardy."

"Yeah, but even Marcus can't disobey a direct order from Gaius," the guy said, somewhat nervously. "I mean, if he does, then he's not the only one who will be punished. We're all directly under him. What happens to us?"

"I don't know," the girl said. "But hey, let's not talk about this anymore, alright? Let's just focus on our job."

 _That_ was our cue. I looked at Jake and Gus, both of whom nodded. Slowly, quietly, we crept out of the underbrush behind the two rouges; Jake behind the guy, Gus and I behind the girl. When we were in position, Gus held up three fingers. He counted down. At zero, we struck in unison. Jake bashed the guy over the helmet with his hammer. The helmet dented gloriously, and the guy went down. I clapped my hand over the girl's mouth and pinched her nose while Gus locked his arm around her throat. She struggled momentarily, but the surprise attack worked. Soon, she too passed out.

We glanced around briefly to make sure we hadn't been seen, then we dragged their unconscious forms into the woods. "Sounds like we were expected," Gus whispered.

"No shit," I replied dryly.

"And you have a _lot_ of explaining to do," Gus added darkly to me.

My anger and hurt snapped back almost immediately, but Jake spoke before I could. "Can we argue about this later? Right now, we've got a situation to handle. What do we do? Go look for another dealership?"

"You heard her," I said, motioning to our unconscious adversary. "This is the only car dealership anywhere around here."

"We don't have time to go find another one," Gus said, agreeing with me grudgingly. "We'll just have to sneak in."

"That's not going to be easy," Jake said. "Did you see how many of them there were just from here? Who knows how many of them there are in total."

"Then I'll find out," Gus replied shortly. "I'll fly around, scout out how many of them there are, see what their patrol routes are, see if there are any obvious openings, that sort of thing. They might be expecting us, but I doubt they know one of us can fly. They won't be looking up."

I frowned. It seemed risky, and I think my doubt showed in my face, but Gus stared back at me defiantly. "Are you with me on this or not, Elizabeth?"

I sighed. "Fine, it's probably our best shot."

"Jake?"

"I'm with you, man," he said.

Augustus nodded, but he didn't drop his defiant attitude. "After this is over, though, we're going to have to talk about what you might've forgotten to tell me." Before I could respond angrily, he gathered the winds around him and blasted into the sky.

I let out a grunt of frustration and sat down hard. I leaned back against a tree and pulled my knees up to my chest, bitter and upset. Jake sat down against a tree so that he was facing me. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said sharply. "It's not the first time Gus and I have fought." There was a silence, then I said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. No, I'm not really okay."

"I could tell," Jake said with a soft chuckle.

"Why don't you hate me, too?" I asked. "This whole Gaius thing affects you, too."

"First of all, Augustus doesn't hate you," he said. "If he did, he wouldn't have gotten so mad when he found out you were keeping secrets from him. As for me, well I'm very curious, too, but I figure you're right. It's your decision when and if you tell us about Gaius. Because it's your thing."

I sighed. "I was going to tell you guys, honestly. But Chiron thought that it would be a bad idea to tell you unless it became absolutely necessary. He didn't want to distract you and Gus from the quest. And then everything has just gone so fast the last couple of days. I hadn't even begun to figure out how to tell you guys the truth. I guess why I'm so upset is I wanted to tell you guys in my own way in my own time, but those stupid venti spoiled all that."

"Well if you decide to take your time, I'll support you all the way," Jake said.

I smiled slightly. "Thanks, Jake."

We were both silent for a little bit. I looked down at our unconscious opponents. "How did they get so many people anyway?"

Jake glanced at the two bodies, too. "I don't know."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" My head snapped up. Jake and I had been ambushed. Ten teens and young adults stood around us in a semi-circle, weapons drawn. "Marcus thought you might show up," one of them said, clearly the leader of the group. "Someone grab Shelley and Don. Take them to the medics. The rest of you, help me escort these demigods to the back office. Marcus is gonna wanna speak to them."

* * *

After we'd had our weapons and my bag confiscated, we were led into the car dealership, down a hallway, and into the owner's office in the back. The room was huge. It even had its own en suite bathroom and a skylight. Most of the furniture had been cleared away to make room for maps, charts, and hastily set up electronics. Still, the main desk remained. One of our captors set mine and Jake's things on this table. The others pulled two sturdy chairs into the center of the room, faced them towards the doorway, then tied Jake and I to them with thick ropes and bungee cords. I didn't make it easy for them. I stomped on feet and gave one guy a nosebleed when I head-butted him in the face. I only stopped when the groups' leader held his sword to my throat. "That's enough," he said menacingly. The guy with the nosebleed was sent to see the medics.

Right as the guards put the finishing touches on our bindings, Marcus burst into the room. He looked just like I remembered from Mexico City: scarecrow figure, thick brown hair, glittering black eyes. This time he wore a three piece pinstripe suit. He grinned when he saw me. "Ah, Elizabeth Jackson, how good to see you again. I had hoped you'd be on this foolhardy quest. It has simply been too long."

"Try not long enough," I retorted.

"I do hope you're comfortable," Marcus went on as if he hadn't heard me. "Can I get you anything?"

"My sword would be nice," I said. "That way I can gut you."

Marcus made a tsk-ing sound. "Now, now, where are your manners? You must be in a foul mood this evening. Or morning, rather, since sunrise is in about fifteen minutes. And you, young man," he added, turning to Jake, "I don't believe I know your name."

"Screw you," Jake said.

"Dear me," Marcus said with a sigh. "You demigods just don't have any manners, do you?"

A bowling ball dropped into my stomach. My synapses started firing rapidly. "What do you mean 'you demigods'?"

Marcus laughed. "Why would I tell you that? That would spoil the fun. You're a descendant of Athena. You should search for the answers yourself. And what's the point of telling you when I'm going to execute you shortly anyway?"

I gulped. Jake spoke up, "You're going to execute us?"

"Well not personally," Marcus said. "I dislike performing violence with my own hands. But yes, I will have you both executed."

"Then what's the risk of telling us a few things if we're just going to die anyway?" Jake asked.

Marcus sighed. "Dear me, young man. This isn't a film. I'm not some diabolical villain that just can't wait to monologue about my evil plan. Besides, I usually leave the monologuing to my boss."

"Wait a minute," I said coyly. I had to stall for time, figure out a plan, and pray to all the gods that Gus wasn't captured too. "Gaius doesn't want me dead. He wants me to be left alive."

Marcus shifted uncomfortably. "Well yes, he does. He's… obsessed with the prophecy about the two of you. But leaving you alive is dangerous. You could screw up our whole plan. I'm sure Gaius will understand that I only killed you because of my dedication to him and to our success."

I laughed harshly. "I've only met your boss once and I know him better than you do!" My brain kept calculating possible escape plans, each more likely to fail than the last. I needed to set off the pipes in the en suite bathroom, that much was clear. But what after that? Jake and I would still be stuck.

"I don't think he's really the type to let something like this go," I went on, taunting Marcus.

"Silence," Marcus growled.

"I mean, he decapitated an old lady just because she didn't have the information he wanted," I continued. "I know, I had a dream about it last year. Decapitation for failing to give him the answer he wants? I wonder what the punishment is for intentionally disobeying him? I bet it involves torture."

"Shut up," Marcus roared. He lashed out and backhanded me across the face.

"Hey!" Jake protested. The slap surprised me, and I lost my breath for a second. My cheek stung. I was pretty sure it was going to leave a bruise.

Marcus took a few deep breaths. When he spoke again, he'd regained his composure. "Look what you made me do," he said. "I actually engaged in violence."

I shook my head, keeping up the act. "I'm disappointed in you Marcus. That right there is a classic example of victim blaming. You blamed me, the person you injured, for your actions. It's practically a textbook example. Am I right, Jake?"

Jake played along. "Oh, you're completely right Elizabeth." He looked at Marcus. "I'm ashamed of you. Behavior like that is intolerable."

"You two would both already be dead if I didn't need to know something from you," Marcus growled, dropping his composure all over again. I guess Jake and I were doing a really good job of annoying him. "So tell me, where is the third?"

They definitely hadn't found Augustus, then. Good. We were going to need his help if we were going to get out of this. _Assuming he's even willing to save you after pissing him off so bad_ , a small, dark voice said in my head, but I pushed the thought back. As mad as Augustus was at me, we were still friends. He didn't want me dead. Sure enough, as proof of that, I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye. I glanced up. Augustus was standing over the skylight, ready to smash the glass with the pommel of his sword. Everything clicked into place. I had a plan.

I locked eyes with Augustus and shook my head almost imperceptibly, hoping he got the message. He did. He stood poised to smash the glass, but he didn't act yet. I returned my attention to Marcus. Well, half my attention. The other half was searching out the pipes in the en suite bathroom. Was it dangerous to use my powers again so soon after they almost killed me? Maybe, but I didn't have much of a choice.

"Third?" I asked Marcus. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific than that. The third what? Beethoven's third symphony?"

"The third Avengers movie?" Jake asked.

"The third Harry Potter book?"

"You know what I mean," Marcus snapped. "The third person on your foolish quest. Now stop playing games and answer my question."

"Well you're no fun," I complained. I felt a tug in my gut as I anchored onto the pipes in the en suite bathroom. I made the pipes build up enough to pressure to explode, but held back the explosion for just a second longer. Immediately I got a headache, but I tried to ignore it. "Well if you want to know where the third person is, Marcus, I'd suggest you look up."

Marcus looked up. I set off the pipes. Water exploded in the en suite bathroom. I directed the wave of water into the room. It smashed into Marcus and all of his guards, sending them toppling to the floor. Augustus immediately smashed the skylight and dropped down into the room. He sliced the bindings around me with one stroke of his sword, then parried a strike from one of Marcus's guards, who'd gotten to his feet rather quickly.

I flipped over the back of my chair. One of the guards behind me was climbing to her feet. She lunged at me, but I grabbed my chair and swung it at her with all the force I could manage. It hit her with such force the chair shattered. She crumpled into the small pond forming on the floor in a daze. I dashed over to the table where our things were and drew Marianas. I switched to trident mode. Power and energy surged through me. My headache faded. I slung my new bag over my shoulder, then turned. Gus was locked in combat with the same guard he's started fighting earlier. He hadn't had a chance to slice apart Jake's bonds yet. That was a problem, because two of Marcus's guards were charging him. I focused and blasted one with a bolt of energy from my trident. He flew backwards and slammed into a wall, crumpling to the ground. I turned and gave the other one the same treatment.

Water was still pouring into the room. It was up to my shins now, soaking my new boots and pants. I ran over to Jake and broke his bonds with my tridents.

"Thanks," he grunted.

I handed him his hammer. "No problem," I said.

Jake immediately turned and smacked a guy around the head with his hammer. Gus delivered a blow with the flat of his blade to the face of the guy he was fighting. The guy crumpled over.

"Come on!" he shouted. We charged towards the door. Marcus was finally climbing to his feet, spluttering.

"Halt!" Marcus screamed. I turned and blasted him. He, too, flew across the room, except he slammed into the desk. The wood splintered, sending Marcus to the ground in a pile of rubble.

Gus yanked the door open against the small lake and we dashed out into the hallway. The water followed us, flowing down the hall in a surprisingly fast river. We burst out of the dealership's front doors. Water spilled out onto the pavement and dispersed. The two guards standing at the door were caught so off guard that Jake was able to bowl over them like they were bowling pins.

Jake and I started running towards a car, but Gus yelled, "No, this one over here. Trust me!" Jake and I looked at each other, perplexed, but we followed Augustus's lead. The people on the rooftops had either just realized what was going on, or they'd come out of a daze, because we were halfway across the parking lot before they started firing arrows at us. Behind us, Marcus burst out of the dealership, two of his troops at his heels. "Stop them!" he screamed.

We'd reached the car that Gus had indicated. It was a black SUV. Miraculously, he produced a key out of his sleeve. He pressed the unlock button and we heard the click of locks. Gus tossed Jake the keys, then leaped into the passenger seat. I threw myself into the back and slammed the door behind me. Jake slid over the hood and jumped into the driver's side. He pushed the key into the ignition and turned. The car roared to life and we spun out of the parking lot.

Marcus and his cronies were already heading to a car of their own, but Gus didn't seem concerned. "We're home free!" he whooped.

"How do you figure?" I asked. "They'll just get in another car and follow us."

"No they won't," Gus chuckled. "I stole all the keys." I gaped at him in wonder. I looked back over my shoulder and sure enough, Marcus and his troops were unable to get into the car they'd picked out. "By the time they break the windows and hotwire the car it'll be too late. We'll be long gone."

"That was brilliant!" I exclaimed. "How did you do it?"

Gus shrugged. "I saw that you guys had gotten captured when a bunch of those soldiers came out of the woods with the two of you. When I saw you were taken into the car dealership it gave me an idea. See, I learned something when we were at the other car dealership yesterday. Every dealership has two sets of keys for each car. One set they keep at the reception desk, the other they keep in the sales associate's office. No one was in the sales office or the main room, I guess because they were all busy in the back watching the Elizabeth Jackson show. I snuck in through a side window, took all the keys, and threw all of them except this one into the woods."

"How'd you know which car it went to?" I asked.

"It was labeled," Gus explained. "After that, I flew back around outside and poised over the skylight. You know what happened after that."

I shook my head in awe. "You're incredible Augustus."

Jake nodded. "Great job, man. You saved our lives."

Behind us, the sun was rising, casting the interior of the car in a pinkish, orangeish light. I sighed. "Look, Augustus, I'm sorry about what I said before. I really am. You're one of my greatest friends, and I shouldn't have accused you of not caring."

Augustus looked down. "I'm sorry for everything I said, too. I couldn't ask for better quest partners. And I'm sorry for being mad at both of you guys. After you were captured, well… I don't know, it gave me some perspective. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get to you in time and save you guys. I was worried you two might die. I don't want that. You guys are my friends." He turned and looked back at me. "I couldn't stand it if something bad happened to you." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "To either of you," he added, looking over at Jake.

"Listen," I said, "I'll tell you about Gaius if you want to know."

"I do want to know," Gus said. "But I've decided that I only want to know when you're ready to tell me."

I blinked, confused. He'd made an about-face in his opinions in less than an hour. Jake looked back at me quickly, just as perplexed. I turned back to Augustus. And then I did something that surprised us both. I reach around the passenger seat and hugged him. "Thank you," I said. Gods of Olympus, what was getting into me?

I leaned back, sure that I was blushing furiously. Gus cleared his throat awkwardly. Jake just chuckled. Finally, I managed to find my words. "You really don't mind waiting just a little bit longer for me to tell you about Gaius?" I asked.

"Do you want to wait a little bit longer?" Gus asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I just… there's so much there. I need to figure out where to start. But I promise I will tell you before we get to Marina."

"Take your time," Gus insisted.

Jake spoke up, and from the sound of his voice I could tell he was just barely holding in laughter. "Well, five hours until we get to Quebec City, guys." I looked out the window. We had gone from a team that was about to tear itself apart to a cohesive unit in less than an hour. I had gone from dubious about our chances of success to more full of determination than ever. We could do this. I knew it. I leaned back, thinking about these things. Eventually, I drifted off. And this time, my dream was a real doozy.

* * *

 **AN: Did you really expect me not to end on a cliff hanger? Haha, I'll see you guys this weekend. More than likely I'll post on Friday since Saturday is Halloween, but keep your eyes open. See you then!**


	14. Chapter 14: Erin Makes a Bad Decision

**AN: Happy Halloween everyone! I hope everyone has had a great Halloweek, and that everyone has fun tonight on Halloween itself! Here's the next chapter. I know I said I'd try and get it up yesterday, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get it all edited by the time I went to bed. So yeah. I want to thank everyone for the support I've gotten so far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a little bit spooky, and though I didn't intentionally line this chapter up with Halloween, it's sort of a happy coincidence.**

 **So enjoy the chapter! DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 14: Erin Cross Makes a Bad Decision

I found myself back in Erin Cross's house. She and a young Gaius were sitting in the living room watching something on TV. I looked around the room. Toys littered the floor and tables, pictures on the wall showed Erin with Gaius doing different things. Other showed some of Gaius's school pictures. When I looked at Gaius, I could tell that a few years had passed. He looked about eight now. Which meant –

The doorbell rang. Erin looked up, slightly confused. Clearly she wasn't expecting company. She stood and walked around the dividing wall to the front door. I followed her, leaving Gaius to watch his show, although he didn't seem all that interested in it. His eyes followed his mother curiously. Erin pulled open the door and I frowned. I didn't recognize the man at all. Apparently neither did Erin. He wore jeans and a brown leather jacket. His brown hair was long and shaggy and his eyes were shockingly green, like a neon sign. There was another figure behind him that I didn't notice immediately. He didn't seem to be all there. He might've been middle aged, but his features were strangely blurred, so it was hard to tell.

"Can I help you?" Erin asked uncertainly.

"I hope so, ma'am," he held out his hand. "My name is Alabaster Torrington. I was wondering if I might come in?" My eyebrows shot up. So I was right. If Alabaster Torrington was here, that meant it was likely that something bad was about to happen.

Erin frowned. "I'm sorry, but I don't know you. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not really in the habit of letting complete strangers into my house for no reason."

"And that's completely understandable," Alabaster replied pleasantly. "But what I would like to speak to you about is something that should really be discussed in private. You never really know when there are prying ears, after all."

"And what do you want to speak about?" Erin asked. "If you want therapy from me, you'll have to stop by the clinic."

Alabaster chuckled. "No, no, nothing like that. It's about Luke Castellan."

Erin's breath caught. "Luke…"

"You knew him, didn't you?" Alabaster pushed.

"I – A long time ago," Erin said. "It's been… It's been a long time since I last saw him." It may have been a long time, but I could tell that Erin still hadn't moved on from him yet. Just the mention of his name had made her jittery.

"Indeed," Alabaster agreed. "About eight years since he died. I'd imagine closer to nine when you last saw him, yes?" Erin didn't reply. Alabaster used the opportunity to push his advantage. "Now, may I please come in?"

Erin hesitated, then, almost in a daze, stepped back to allow Alabaster in. _No no no_ , I thought. _You're gonna get yourself killed!_ Somehow I knew that without the events that were about to transpire, Lukas Robert Cross never would have grown up to become Gaius. But I couldn't change the past. Alabaster entered the Cross residence, followed by his blurry companion, who Erin didn't seem to notice at all.

In the living room, Gaius looked up. "Who are they?" he asked suspiciously.

"My name is Alabaster Torrington," the man said, kneeling down in front of Gaius and holding out his hand. "What's your name?"

Hesitantly, Gaius shook Alabaster's hand. "Lukas. Who's the guy with you?" He motioned to the figure standing behind Gaius. Erin looked confused and slightly concerned. Alabaster glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at Gaius, a small smile on his face.

"Ah, so you can see him," Alabaster said. "That's good. Not many people can. His name is Dr. Claymore. Think of him as my imaginary friend. Do you have an imaginary friend, Lukas?"

Gaius shook his head. "No, I don't. But how come I can see your imaginary friend?"

Alabaster chuckled. "Well let's just say I've got a very powerful imagination. Not strong enough to make him visible to everyone, but very special people can see him, just like you."

"You can make your imagination become real?" Gaius asked skeptically.

Alabaster nodded. "Yes, I can. Remember that, Lukas. If you imagine something hard enough, you can make it a reality."

Erin cleared her throat. "Lukas, honey, why don't you go to your room? Mr. Torrington and I need to talk about something."

Gaius moaned. "But mom…"

"No buts," Erin said. "Go to your room. If you're good, after Mr. Torrington leaves I can make some popcorn and we can watch whatever movie you want."

Gaius considered a moment, decided that it was a good deal, and bounded out of the room. He went through a doorway which no doubt led in the direction of his room.

Erin scooped up the TV remote and turned it off. She turned to Alabaster. "Can I get you some coffee or tea? Maybe a glass of water?" Erin asked politely.

"No thank you," Alabaster said.

"Can I at least take your jacket?"

"I'll leave it on for now, if that's alright," Alabaster said, adjusting his jacket's zipper ever so slightly. I got the feeling that he was hiding something underneath there, but it was hard to say what. Obviously nothing bulky or it would have been noticeable. "May I sit?" he asked, indicating a squishy looking armchair.

"Go ahead," Erin said. "Sorry about all those questions Lukas was asking just now. Eight is a very inquisitive age, you know?"

"I wouldn't know," Alabaster replied, taking a seat in the armchair. His misty friend stayed standing, and took up a spot just behind him. "I don't have children myself."

Erin looked completely uncomfortable and nervous. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest and she rocked a little on her feet. Nevertheless, she sat down on the edge of the sofa across from Alabaster. "Well it was kind of you to humor Gaius about your 'imaginary friend.' You didn't have to, though. He can be very mature for his age."

"Oh, I wasn't humoring him," Alabaster said. "Though the imaginary part was something of a lie. But I really do have my friend Dr. Claymore with me."

There was dead silence. Then Erin said, "I'm sorry, I think I made a mistake, I –"

"Come now," Alabaster said, interrupting her. "Luke told you about who he really was, correct?"

"I – yes, but –"

"Then you'll know about the Mist," Alabaster said. "Although, you might need a refresher. I imagine it's been a while since you thought about Luke's world. The Mist is the magical veil that separates the world of ordinary mortals from Luke's world, and mine. I do have my friend Dr. Claymore with me, but you can't see him because he's what we call a Mistform, a being formed out of Mist and then animated."

"So how could –"

"Your son see him?" Alabaster finished. "He has the ability to see through the Mist because of his father. He inherited it. That's why he can see my friend, and also why all those times he says he saw monsters, he probably really did."

Erin blinked a few times. "Lukas always said the monsters he saw were nice to him." That seemed to genuinely surprise Alabaster. He actually recoiled slightly. But I think I understood. It's because they knew, somehow, he was descended from Kronos. Maybe his scent was stronger than a demigod's? Or perhaps it was just different. I didn't really understand how the monsters-smelling-demigods thing worked. Erin came out of something of a confused reverie. "So let me get this straight. There's someone in my house right now that I can't see, but he's definitely real?"

Alabaster set aside whatever he was thinking about Gaius and the monsters and nodded. "Yes, you've got the gist of it. He's actually standing right behind me. Of course, it used to be that everyone could see him. I could make Mistforms so well that they could be visible to ordinary mortals, but Dr. Claymore has been fading the last few years. I'm afraid he's going to fade away completely soon. Which brings me to why I'm here."

"I thought you said something about Luke?" Erin asked warily.

"Yes, I did," Alabaster agreed. "It's all connected."

"How?" Erin asked. "How do you even know who I am? How did you find me? What does this have to do with Luke?" Erin was getting more worked up, and I could hardly blame her. Maybe it's because I already knew she was going to die, but I had a very uneasy feeling about all of this.

"Please calm down," Alabaster said. "I will explain everything, but there's a lot to understand. I only ask that you are patient. How did I find you? I looked you up online. Using the internet is dangerous for demigods, such as myself, but then very few things aren't dangerous for us. How do I know who you are? Well I was rather high up in the titan army. I was directly in charge of the demigod forces. I knew Luke personally, and I saw how much he cared about you. That's why I've come to you today. Luke loved you very much."

"You don't need to tell me how much Luke loved me," Erin said darkly. Her eyes were very red now. Alabaster had definitely hit a nerve.

"You still seem on edge," Alabaster observed.

"Why are you here?" Erin asked sharply.

Alabaster held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay." He placed his fingertips together in thought. After a few moments, he spoke again. "Back to my friend Dr. Claymore, then. Shortly after your boyfriend's death I was… let's say unemployed. At the same time, a psychotic half-sister of mine was coming after me."

"Why?" Erin asked.

"She was trying to kill me," Alabaster said nonchalantly, as if it was completely normal for half-siblings to kill each other. Of course, anyone who looked at Greek mythology could see that it was, at least for our world. "The reason is not really important to the story. The important part is that this half-sister of mine was recently returned from the dead."

A cold chill seemed to fill the room. My breath caught in my throat. Already, I could see where this was going, and I _really_ didn't like it. "That's possible?" Erin asked quietly, alarmed. It may have been my imagination, but she also sounded the tiniest bit hopeful.

Alabaster nodded. "Oh yes. Take a look at Greek mythology. Tantalus managed to stay on earth for years after he was supposed to die, and even after he made it to the Underworld, he tricked Hades into letting him return to the surface, and he stayed there for several more years. Orpheus was almost able to leave the Underworld with his dead wife, until he screwed up and looked at her. And at the time my half-sister was trying to kill me it was actually fairly easy to return from the dead, provided you had the right connections. At any rate, she and I were fighting. Unfortunately, Dr. Claymore, who was an ordinary mortal at the time, got caught in the cross-fire and died."

"I thought your friend Dr. Claymore was with you?" Erin asked. "Isn't that what you just said? Did you bring him back from the dead?"

"Well, I didn't," Alabaster said. "See, my mother, Hecate, goddess of magic, intervened between my sister and I, and she sent me Dr. Claymore as a guardian and a companion. See, after he died, she made a Mistform of him and animated it with his actual soul."

"Could that work for other people?" Erin asked, and I definitely didn't imagine the greed in her voice. _This is bad_ , I thought. _This is very, very bad_.

Alabaster smiled coyly. "Quick to catch on," he noted. "In theory, yes, it could be done with other people. But you see, there's a problem. Less than a year after my half-sister and I fought, death stopped being so lenient. All those people who'd escaped to the world of the living during that time period were slowly but surely taken back to the Underworld. Dr. Claymore started to get dragged to the Underworld. I was able to cast a spell to anchor him here, in the mortal world in his Mistform body, but it's only a temporary solution. Over the past seven years the spell has weakened greatly. Dr. Claymore's soul is like… It's like he's got one foot in the Underworld and one foot out. Does that make sense?"

Erin nodded slightly. "Yes, I think so."

"Good," Alabaster said. "I've never tried explaining this to someone else before, so I'm glad it's understandable. Anyway, Dr. Claymore is the only friend I have. I have no one else. I don't want to lose him. So, I've been trying to develop a new spell. A spell that can summon a soul, or parts of a soul, out of the Underworld. And I think I've succeeded. The only trouble is, it's not the easiest spell to test."

"And that's why you're here," Erin said, sitting forward. "You want to test this spell on Luke."

"Yes," Alabaster said. "I can tell that you miss him. Just over the course of our short conversation, I've seen plenty of evidence to that fact. But of course, the choice is yours."

"Why are you even offering to try it on Luke?" Erin asked, somewhat suspiciously. _I'd like to know the same thing_ , I thought.

"Two reasons," Alabaster said. "First of all, I feel like you deserve justice. Losing Luke wasn't fair to you or him. The second reason is, I'll admit, is rather selfish. You see, if I messed up my new spell… Dr. Claymore could be sent to the Underworld completely. But Luke… well, he's already in the Underworld. There's nothing to lose if the spell goes wrong. But if it goes right, I could bring him back all the way."

"And if you fail he just stays in the Underworld?" Erin asked.

"Correct," Alabaster said. "I understand if you don't want to, and I'll respect your choice –"

"I'll do it," Erin said. I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was incredibly dangerous. Didn't Erin know better than to mess around with the dead?

"Are you sure?" Alabaster asked, clearly surprised by how quickly Erin had agreed to his idea.

Erin nodded. "Like you said, if you fail, Luke just stays dead, but if you succeed…"

"Well thank you very much for agreeing," Alabaster said. "If I can, I will make it up to you. I'll bring Luke back. Now, is there a good time for me to come back so we can do this?"

"Can we try now?" Erin asked. "Why wait?"

Alabaster looked a little bit alarmed. He glanced over his shoulder at his Mistform friend. _Please decide not to_ , I wished, although I knew it was going to happen. There was no way this would have a happy ending. Alabaster turned back to Erin. "Alright," he said. "Let's give it a shot."

"Do you need anything from me?" Erin asked.

Alabaster was standing up. "Do you have something of Luke's? Something he was connected to? An item that held symbolic significance for him?"

Erin reached underneath her shirt and pulled out a necklace strung with beads. Luke's camp necklace. She was still wearing it? She passed the necklace to Alabaster. "This was his. He gave it to me the last time I saw him. He wanted me to keep it safe for him."

Hesitantly, Alabaster took the necklace. I could tell from the look on his face that he didn't know how to feel about the necklace. Clearly, even after years, he was having trouble letting go of any resentment he held towards Camp Half-Blood. Just like Erin, Alabaster couldn't let go of the past.

Alabaster unzipped his jacket and produced what looked like a blue piece of chalk. That's what he'd been hiding inside his coat? He turned to Erin. "Could you stand up? I've got to move the furniture, make a good space on the floor."

Erin stood up. "I can help you."

"It'll be quicker if I just do it," Alabaster replied. He held up his hands. Instantly, symbols blazed to life all over his body, glowing green runes on his pants, his jacket, even his face. His eyes, too, glowed a brighter green than before. I really hoped that didn't happen every time Helen from camp used magic. It was creepy, and chances were I'd see her use magic at some point. Instantly all the furniture in the room moved out of the way, up against the walls. The couch ended up blocking one of the doors. The toys that littered the floor flew out of the way and landed in neat piles on the couch.

Alabaster walked to the exact center of the room and set Luke's necklace on the floor. Using his blue chalk, he traced a circle around it. Then he moved outwards, drawing different shapes and symbols. Erin looked on, equal parts confused and fascinated. I looked on in horror. This was unnatural. Speaking to the dead, that was one thing. Nico did that, the kids in the Hades cabin back at camp did that, heck, I'd even done it when I spoke to Houdini a year ago. Aunt Hazel had come back to life during the war with Gaea, but the gods had condoned that. But what Alabaster was trying to do? It was just wrong.

Alabaster had finished drawing his shapes and symbols. He inscribed the whole thing in one large circle. It took up most of the room. Erin stood just behind him. "What now?" she asked.

"Now we cast the spell," Alabaster said. Dr. Claymore the Mistform leaned close to him, like he was whispering something. Alabaster nodded. "Ah yes, of course old friend." He pulled a card from the inside pocket of his jacket. He gave the card a flick and Dr. Claymore was sucked into it. "Dr. Claymore asked to be returned to his card," he explained to Erin. "If I mess up the spell while he was standing here, it would destroyed him."

"He can be returned to a card?" Erin asked. "Why didn't you do that right when you got here?"

"He doesn't like being in his card," Alabaster replied. "Now, let's begin." _Let's not begin_ , I thought. _How about you call this whole thing off?_ Alabaster raised his hands and the weird symbols glowed all over his body again. The lines he'd drawn on the floor changed from blue to green and glowed as well. The overhead light exploded, casting the room in semi-darkness, lit only by the glowing green symbols on the floor and on Alabaster himself.

Alabaster began to chant in another language. Latin maybe? I didn't have a great ear for those types of things. The symbols on the floor began to move, the circles he'd drawn as part of the pattern started to spin. A whooshing sound filled the living room. Across the room a door opened. Gaius poked his head out. He stared at the glowing patterns. The couch blocked his access to the room, but nevertheless, he called across to his mother.

"Mom, what's happening?" he asked.

"Go back up to your room, sweetie," Erin said. "I'll be up in a little while. Everything is going to be fine." Erin locked eyes with her son across the room. "I promise it will be okay."

Gaius stood stock still, but he didn't go back to his room. Meanwhile, Alabaster reached the end of his chant. He cried out in English, "Rise Luke Castellan! Return from the Underworld!" The symbols on the floor blazed gold. The same gold as Gaius's eyes. In the center of the room, an apparition rose. Luke Castellan emerged from the floor, shimmering gold.

Erin gaped. "Luke," she whispered.

"It worked," Alabaster said, stunned. "It actually worked!"

Luke looked around the room, his head slightly tilted. The symbols on the floor continued to move. Gaius was gaping now. I couldn't imagine what was going through the little kid's head.

"Why isn't he doing anything?" Erin asked Alabaster.

"He may not be back fully yet," Alabaster explained. "The spell is still going, see?" He pointed to the symbols on the floor. "Try saying something to him."

 _Or don't_ , I thought. _How about don't do that._

Erin spoke. "L- Luke? Can you hear me?"

Luke turned his head and looked at Erin. A wide smile appeared on his face, but it wasn't the sort of smile one has when they see someone they love for the first time in years. No, it was a sinister smile. Erin took a hesitant step back. Alabasters eyebrows furrowed. "Ah, Erin Cross, we meet again," the apparition in the middle of the room said, but it wasn't Luke. The voice was too deep and had an edge like a knife scraping across rock. It was Kronos. Alabaster had summoned Kronos.

"No," Erin gasped. "You're not Luke."

Kronos laughed cruelly. "Well done, Miss Cross." He turned and looked at Alabaster. "Ah, if it isn't Alabaster Torrington. I suppose I have you to thank for this second chance?"

"I didn't summon you," Alabaster said, his voice quavering, though whether from fear or rage, I didn't know. "I summoned Luke."

Kronos chuckled. "And did you not consider the possibility that he chose rebirth? Luke isn't in the Underworld anymore. Somewhere in the world is a child who houses Luke's soul. Well, most of it. As you can see, I kept some of it for myself. Not that either Luke or I had a choice in that matter."

Alabaster couldn't respond, he just gaped. Kronos turned his attention back to Erin. "And how is our son doing?"

"You're my dad?" Gaius cried out. For the first time, Kronos's attention shifted to young Gaius.

"He's not your father," Erin said to her son. "And he's not your son," she added harshly to Kronos. "He's my son, he's Luke's son."

"You foolish woman," Kronos said to Erin. "When the boy was conceived, Luke and I were already bound. The boy is my son, too."

"But… but why?" Erin asked. "Why does it matter to you?"

Kronos opened his mouth to respond, but Alabaster seemed to have found his voice again. "Kronos! I don't know how my spell was able to bring you back, but that doesn't matter. You must leave! You must return to whatever state you were in before!"

"Come now, Alabaster, where's the loyalty?" Kronos asked. "You were one of my top lieutenants. Well, I'm back. Don't you still want to destroy the Olympians?"

"Yes," Alabaster said. "But I don't want it badly enough to want you back. You're no better than they are! Maybe even a little worse," he added quietly. "Now leave!"

"It's too late for that," Kronos said. "You do not control me, Alabaster Torrington. In just a few moments enough of my soul will have gathered that I will be able to leave the petty bindings you drew on the ground. A smart idea, and certainly enough to hold any lesser spirit. But not enough to hold me. Not for long. I am a titan."

"Then I'll stop you now," Alabaster said, the symbols on his body blazing to life again. "I'm sorry Erin Cross, I'm sorry Lukas. I have to stop Kronos."

Kronos snarled. "Don't be foolish! You'll destroy yourself, this woman, and the boy!"

Erin looked alarmed. "Please, Alabaster, don't… I don't want my son to die."

"Mom?" Gaius choked out. "What's going on!?"

"I'm sorry," Alabaster said, "but if I don't thousands will die. Maybe millions. I have to do this!" He thrust out his hands. The outermost lines on the floor switched back to green. Kronos grunted.

Erin ran across the room to Gaius. She leaped over the couch and wrapped him in a hug. "It'll be okay, honey. It'll be okay."

"You won't succeed!" Kronos yelled. "You don't have enough strength!"

Alabaster's veins became visible as they, too, started glowing green. His eyes were entirely green now, no whites, no pupils, just glowing green light. "I will stop you," Alabaster said, his voice magically magnified. "I have to!"

More symbols and circles on the floor changed to green until only the innermost circle around Kronos remained gold. Alabaster dropped to his knees, but he didn't release his magic. "No!" Kronos yelled. "Stop this! I will destroy you!"

"You don't have the power anymore Kronos," Alabaster said. "I do now! Be gone!"

"No!"

"GO!" Alabaster yelled. He slammed his hands against the floor. Magical energy surged outwards from him in a wave of green light. Kronos screamed. There was a huge blast of golden light. The world itself seemed to shake, and my dream went to static.

* * *

I woke up screaming in the backseat of the SUV. Augustus looked back at me in alarm. "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

I just sat there, gasping.

"Elizabeth?" Gus asked. "Are you okay?"

I managed to nod. "It was… it was a dream."

"What about?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it. Not yet. I just… I just need time to sit and think."

"How much time do you need?" Jake asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Why?"

Jake pointed out the windshield at a sign. _Welcome to Quebec City_. "Because we're here," he said. "And I believe we have an appointment with the lord of the north wind."

* * *

 **AN: And that's it! See you guys next time!**


	15. Chapter 15: I Get Hit On by a Boread

**AN: Hey everyone! Are you ready for the next chapter? I am! Now, I would like to warn everyone that there _might_ not be a second chapter this weekend. See, I'm going on a school trip this weekend and I may not be able to post while I'm gone. If that's the case, I'm very sorry, but with any luck I'll still be able to get you another chapter this weekend. **

**As always, I want to thank everyone who has interacted with this story in any capacity, even if it's just reading it. I really appreciate it. You guys are the reason the story keeps going. Recently reader MoonLitt Tears gave Augustus and Elizabeth the ship name "Agizabeth," which I both appreciate and find pretty awesome.**

 **Also, just a fair warning, this chapter does have some short passages in French. Don't worry, you'll still be able to understand what's going on, but I wanted to warn you because my French grammar may be completely wrong, and I might use the wrong words in a couple of places. I think it's fairly decent, but my knowledge of French is _extremely_ limited. So if anyone knows French, I am sorry if I butchered it.**

 **Alright, I'll shut up now. Time for the next chapter. We're getting closer and closer to the finale! Enjoy! DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 15: I Get Hit On by a Boread

"Where in the city is Boreas anyway?" Jake asked.

I was still shaking from my dream. It had terrified me, and I wasn't even entirely sure why. Still, I managed to say, "Not sure. Usually with gods though, it's not too hard to find where they hang out. We've just got to look around a bit."

"We could do that," Gus said. "Or we could head to the center of the city. There's a hotel there that looks like a castle. Boreas's palace is set up in the top."

I gaped at him from the back seat. "How did you know that?"

"I know things," he said self-consciously. "Your parents aren't the only ones who told you about their adventures. Mom and Dad came here with Uncle Leo on their first quest together. They had to go see Boreas, too."

"Alright, the hotel it is," Jake said from the driver's seat. "According to my phone we can get there in about ten minutes."

I pressed my forehead up against the window. The cool glass felt good against my warm skin. My thoughts shifted back to my dream. I understood now why Alabaster's body had been found at Erin's house the night she'd died. He was trying to bring Luke back to life. I sighed. Why couldn't people let go of the past? If Alabaster had been willing to let go of his friend Dr. Claymore, or if Erin had just accepted the fact that Luke was dead, neither of them would've died, and Gaius… well he probably wouldn't have become so dangerous. Speaking of which, how did he survive?

"You sure you're okay?" Gus asked. "You still seem out of it."

"I'll be fine," I said. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

Gus didn't respond. I knew he wanted to ask what I was thinking about, but he didn't, and I really appreciated it. I was still trying to figure out how to tell him and Jake about Gaius.

Jake pulled over to the side and parallel parked the car. "There, up ahead," Jake said. "That's the hotel."

I glanced out the windshield, taking in the structure. Just like Augustus said, it looked like a castle. The front loop was bustling with people; valets, bellhops, the works. There wasn't a car in the parking lot that wasn't worth at least eighty grand. A limo sat right outside the doors. The people coming in and out of the hotel looked filthy rich, even if I hadn't had the evidence of their cars. "Well there's no way we're getting in there like this," I said.

"What do you mean?" Gus asked.

"Have you seen yourself recently?" I said. "You're still wearing the old clothes from the explosion yesterday morning. Your clothes are riddled with holes, rips, burns… No way would they let you or Jake in. I might be able to get in. I may not be dressed fancy like those people, but at least the clothes the Hunters gave me are still relatively clean. But I don't want to go see Boreas on my own."

"I guess we're going clothes shopping then," Jake said. "How much money did the Hunters give you?"

I rifled through my bag. "Uh… 300 Canadian dollars."

Gus fist pumped. "Excellent! I love clothes shopping! Let's go pick out some new outfits!" Jake and I stared at him.

"Right," Jake said slowly. "Well, there's a JC Penny's near here. Should be able to get new clothes there."

I nodded. "JC Penny's it is."

* * *

The looks we got going into the department store were priceless. I guess the shoppers didn't often see a fourteen year old girl escorting two apparently homeless teenage boys into a shopping center. We walked over to the men's section. Jake pulled down the first shirt and pants he found in his size, but Gus immediately stepped in. "No, no, no," he said. "Vertical stripes would _not_ look good on you. Here, try on this plaid. And those jeans? No. You need a darker color."

"Why does it matter?" Jake grumbled.

"It matters because I have a reputation to uphold," Gus said. "I _am_ a grandson of Aphrodite. I will not have my best friend walking around as a fashion disaster."

I raised my eyebrows. "Reputation? Who that we know is going to see the way you guys are dressed? You didn't even seem to notice a few minutes ago."

"We didn't have a choice, then," Gus said. "We were stuck with our dirty clothes, so I just accepted it. But as long as we're buying new clothes, we're buying _nice_ new clothes." He grabbed a couple more articles of clothing and draped them over his arm. "Alright, Jake, let's go try these on." Gus grabbed his arm and dragged Jake away towards the changing rooms. Jake shot me an exasperated look as they rounded the corner of a clothes rack. I chuckled lightly. Augustus could be quite odd.

I glanced around absently, trying and failing not to think too much about my most recent dream. Too bad I was bad at that. I kept thinking about Alabaster Torrington. The foolish man had almost caused Kronos's rebirth. Why couldn't he have just let go? Or tried out his spell on _anyone_ else? But no, he wanted to try and bring back Luke. Instead, he'd killed Erin, and no doubt created the very conditions that allowed Gaius to become Gaius.

But then I noticed something that made me start and immediately captured my attention. It was a person with one leg. And no, not like they'd had an amputation. I mean they had one leg positioned directly underneath their torso ending with a massive foot. Otherwise, the man looked completely normal. His upper body was average in every way: light brown hair, blue eyes, a plain t-shirt. But his singular thigh started at his waist and tapered to his ankle. The shoe on the man's foot must've been at least a size twenty.

"Thank gods I got out of there," Jake said, coming back towards me. I glanced over at him. He wore a plain pair of dark jeans and a red and black plaid shirt. Augustus had apparently picked a jacket out for him, too, because he had a tan one draped over his arm. "I thought Augustus was going to make me jump through hoops next. Luckily, he seemed satisfied by these clothes. He's paying for our stuff with the money now. Hey, what's up? You seem distracted."

I nodded in the direction of the one-legged man. "What do you see over there?"

Jake looked in the direction I'd indicated. The man was trying on suit jackets. "You mean the guy with one leg?" Jake replied. "Yeah, pretty strange. I noticed a couple of people like that when we were driving around earlier."

"You didn't mention them?"

Jake shrugged. "Didn't see any need to. Figured you guys would see them, too. And at any rate, they seem perfectly peaceful. None of the ones I saw earlier were causing any harm."

"Who's not causing any harm?" I looked over. Gus had returned. He wore jeans a shade lighter than Jake's, a green and navy plaid shirt, and a grey jacket draped over his arm. I had to admit, he looked pretty good in the new clothes. Which made me blush a little. Which made me mad at myself. Gods of Olympus, why was I such a mess?

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Over there. By the suit jackets."

Gus glanced over. "That guy only has one leg. Like… right in the middle. _Weird_. What do you think he is?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, which is annoying because I like knowing things."

"Do you think he calls his pants just pant?" Gus wondered. "Like singular, since there's only one leg?"

"When you're done asking the hard-hitting, philosophical questions," Jake interrupted, "we should get out of here. We've got an appointment, remember?"

"Jake's right," I said. "The one-legged guy isn't causing anyone any harm. Let's just get going."

* * *

We ended up walking back over to the hotel. Now that I was paying attention, I noticed several more of the one-legged guys. Like Jake said, though, they seemed perfectly pleasant and peaceful. Honestly, they were just like the other people around them.

Jake kept glancing at the sky, then at his phone. "I don't like this," he grumbled. "It's already noon. We have to save Alex tomorrow. I hope this doesn't take too long."

"It'll be fine," I assured him. "Remember, Artemis said we had to get Boreas's help if we're going to succeed."

"Let's just hope he'll be willing to give it to us," Jake replied.

"Hey, don't worry," Gus said. "Boreas is the friendliest of the wind gods. He always helps heroes. He helped my parents one their first quest together. I'm sure he'll help us."

When we got close to the hotel, the guys standing outside sort of glared at us, but they didn't stop us. We were definitely under-dressed, especially me in my plain black tank top, but we were also clean-looking. We had every right to enter the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel was just as grand as the exterior. There was a grand staircase directly ahead. The room was lit by soft gold light from a chandelier hanging high above us. To our left, a long mahogany desk served as the reception and check in location. I whistled. "This place is _nice_."

One of the people over at reception called over to us, but I didn't quite catch what she said. I was paying so little attention that it almost didn't sound like English. "Did she just speak French?" Jake asked. Oh. I guess she really wasn't speaking English.

"Yeah, she asked if she can help us," Gus said. "Quebec is a predominantly French speaking area. Don't worry, I got this." He turned and began walking towards the woman who'd called out to us. "Bonjour, mademoiselle."

I blinked. "He speaks French. Why not?"

"It's one of his grandson of Aphrodite things," Jake explained. "French is the language of love, after all. You didn't know he could speak French?"

I sighed. "No, I didn't. But how come everyone but me knows multiple languages? It's totally unfair. I can't even get Ancient Greek down, and that's supposedly in my blood."

Jake shrugged. "Dunno what to tell you."

A few moments later, Gus came back over to us. The woman over at the desk seemed to be blinking as if confused or dazed. "I've got good news and bad news," Augustus said. "The bad news is that you need a keycard to access the elevator at all, and your card has to have special access to get up to the penthouse suite, where Boreas is. The good news," he held up a keycard, "is that apparently my charmspeak is extra potent in French. Took almost no effort at all to get her to give me this keycard. Shall we?"

"Good thing I don't understand French," I joked. "Or else you'd charm me into all sorts of awkward things."

"Who's to say I can't in English?" Gus retorted.

"Whenever you two are done flirting," Jake cut in, "we've got a god to go see. Remember, guys, we've got a bit of a time crunch."

My eyes met Gus's just a moment too long, and we both glanced away from each other awkwardly. This was getting ridiculous. "Right you are, Jake," I finally managed. "After you." I motioned him ahead of me. I may have elbowed him in the ribs as he passed. I can neither confirm nor deny that.

The ride up in the elevator was quiet, which of course gave my thoughts time to stray back to my latest dream. The question I kept coming back to was how Gaius had survived. It had looked like a pretty massive explosion. As far as I had seen, Gaius hadn't shown any particular skill that would've enabled him to survive the explosion unscathed. Because that's what Jocelyn had said. He had been perfectly fine when emergency workers showed up at the site.

When the elevators dinged open on the top floor the first thing I noticed was the cold. I was glad I'd brought my new jacket up with me, because I definitely needed it. Jake and Augustus put on their new jackets, too. We stepped out of the elevator into a magnificent room, with high windows, a vaulted ceiling forty feet high, and another chandelier, much like the one downstairs. The difference was that everything in the penthouse apartment was covered in ice. Icicles hung from the banisters of the staircase, coated the carpeting, and glazed the interior of the windows, making the sunlight come in weird. Ice even hung from the ceiling like giant stalactites.

"Someone had the AC turned up a little too high," Augustus commented.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind and two figures appeared in front of us. Their faces were rather similar, so I figured they were brothers, but beyond their basic facial features they looked almost nothing alike. The guy on the left was so huge he could've put up a decent fight against a polar bear. He wore a red hockey jersey, and judging by his size, his missing teeth, and his black eyes, I wouldn't have been surprised if he actually did play hockey. That is if it weren't for the giant purple wings on his back. His hair was icy white, and the sword he had leveled at my friends and me was jagged like an icicle.

His companion was a bit less intimidating. His hair was the same color, but it was done in a feathered mullet. His clothes belonged back in the 70s or 80s. He, too, had purple wings and an icicle sword, but since he was at most ninety pounds, he wasn't nearly so intimidating. That and the bad acne didn't help. Or maybe he was unscary in _spite_ of the bad acne? It was pretty horrifying.

"Halt," the skinny one said in a French accent so bad it made my old enemy Dr. Thorn's accent sound downright incredible. "Who dares enter the palace of King Boreas uninvited?"

"Halt," repeated the big one. "You don't have appoint – appoint – You can't enter."

Skinny sighed. "A-ppoint-ment, Cal. A-ppoint-ment. It's only one more syllable."

"A-ppoint-" Cal struggled. He shook his head. "You can't enter."

Skinny slapped his forehead with his free hand. Augustus cleared his throat. "Right. Well, we're sorry to surprise you and all. I'm sure King Boreas is very busy, but if he'd just be willing to meet with us for a few minutes, we'd be extremely grateful. My name is Augustus Grace, grandson of Zeus and Aphrodite. These are my friends, Elizabeth and Jake."

"Sup," Jake said, raising a hand in greeting.

"It's a pleasure," I said flatly.

It was at this point that skinny really paid me attention for the first time. I wished he had never paid me attention at all. But as soon as he looked over at me he smiled and wiggled his eyebrows in what was surely meant to be a seductive way. "Ah, hello mademoiselle. I am Zethes, and this is my brother Calais. It is a pleasure to meet someone of such radiance."

I raised my eyebrows. "You are _not_ hitting on me," I said, disgusted.

"I know what you are thinking," Zethes said. "'I am not worthy to be courted by such a magnificent man.' Fear not. Your beauty is incredible enough to make up for any difference in station between us."

"That's _not_ what I was thinking," I assured him. I gripped the hilt of my sword and pulled it about two inches out of its sheath. "And unless you'd like to see what I can do with this sword, I suggest you stop flirting with me."

Zethes laughed. "The girl is feisty! I like that!"

"Oh you did not just say that!" I drew my sword all the way, but Augustus immediately threw an arm across me and gave me a warning look. Slowly, I lowered the blade.

"Dad won't like," Cal said, pointing at me.

Zethes frowned. "That is true. While I may appreciate such a feisty manner, father will not appreciate it. Especially not during these summer months."

"She'll be on her best behavior, won't you Elizabeth?" Augustus said, looking at me pointedly.

I glared at him. Speaking for me? Really? Nevertheless, I realized that I was getting worked up and impulsive. I was about to sabotage the mission. "Fine," I muttered. I sheathed my sword.

Zethes didn't lower his sword, which, by the way, he'd kept pointed at me the _entire time he was trying to flirt_. "What business have you with King Boreas anyway?"

"We're on a quest," Augustus explained. "A very important one. Artemis foresaw that we would need your father's help to succeed. We were hoping he would be gracious enough to accept our request for aid."

"And what would our father stand to gain?" Zethes asked.

"A raise," Jake said. Cal and Zethes looked at Jake, confused. Augustus's head whipped around to look at Jake, wondering just what Jake was getting at. But I immediately saw where Jake was going. How clever.

"That's right," I said. "See, our quest is to rescue Alex de Marco, a son of Zeus."

"And if Zeus hears that your father was instrumental in the rescue of his son, well," Jake said, trailing off at the end.

"Zeus is Aeolus's boss," I pointed out. "He could order Aeolus to reward Boreas. Or, even better, he could reward Boreas directly. Think about that. Your father in the good graces of Zeus? Not too bad."

Zethes and Cal looked at each other and leaned in close to whisper to each other. "Nice one," Gus said to Jake out of the corner of his mouth. "Good thinking."

Zethes turned his attention back to us. "Very well, our father will hear what you have to say. Follow us, and remember: be on your best behavior. Father is rather temperamental right now." He sheathed his sword and led the way up the stairs. We followed, with Cal bringing up the rear, his sword still out and pointed at our backs.

The hall we entered was just as cold an icy as the foyer, and also just as grand. Our breath hung in the air around us. I stuffed my hands in my jacket pockets for warmth. "I hope this goes well," Jake muttered. "I don't much fancy the idea of having to fight our way out of here."

"It'll be fine," Gus whispered back. "I'm sure Boreas will be perfectly willing to help us. He is the friendliest of the wind gods, after all."

"It's also summer," I hissed back. "And we've already been told multiple times that he's in a bad mood. Let's just be careful, yeah?"

Zethes brought our group to a halt in front of a set of double doors. The doors were emblazoned with a picture of the globe, with those little wind faces blowing at it from four directions, except all the faces were the winter face and they were blowing snow and ice over the world. The doors creaked open slowly, and cold air and mist came out of the crack.

Zethes led us into the room. As cold as the entry hall had been, this room was way colder, like a meat locker. I shivered badly as I looked down the long room. It was quite large; I couldn't see the far end, though that may have been because of the mist. Above us, multicolored lights shimmered in ribbons along the ceiling: the aurora borealis. All around us life-size ice sculptures of warriors from all different eras stood in defensive stances. Or, I assumed they were statues until I took a step forward and two of them moved with surprising speed and leveled pointed spears at my throat.

A low voice spoke French in a booming voice from the end of the hall. Zethes answered the voice in French. The original voice spoke one more phrase and the ice sculpture guards backed off. "Translation?" Jake asked.

"The guy at the end of the hall, Boreas, asked who goes there," Gus whispered. "Zethes responded that he had visitors, one of whom was descended from Zeus and Aphrodite. Boreas ordered his guards to stand down and for us to be brought forward."

"My father will see you now," Zethes said, turning to us. He led the way up the middle of the room. I glanced at the ice statues as we passed them. They were… off putting. Finally, we reached the end of the hall, where two figures waited for us.

The man sitting in the throne was clearly Boreas. He was a large man, more like his son Cal in build than his son Zethes. He wore a suit so white it could have been made of snow. Folded behind him were enormous purple wings, larger and more magnificent than his sons'. His hair and beard were both long, though I wasn't sure if they were white or just covered in ice. He had a sour expression on his face, but the smile lines around his eyes indicated that he had a good side, and it was a side he showed fairly often.

The other figure was, I could only assume, some kind of prisoner. She was beautiful, but extremely pale. Her black hair was thick and shiny, her eyes the color of coffee. She wore a simple white dress. Oh yeah, she also wore chains. Heavy manacles were tightened around her wrists and ankles, chains leading from them to the wall, where the ends were bolted. A metal face mask was locked around her mouth, preventing her from speaking. I wasn't entirely sure who she was, but I wondered what she must've done to receive such treatment. And why was Boreas keeping her in the throne room with him?

"Ah, sister dear," Zethes said with relish. "And how are you today?"

"She's Boreas's daughter?" I whispered in horror. "Why is she locked up like that?"

"That's Khione," Gus whispered back. "Your parents probably didn't mention her. I don't think they ever met her. But trust me, I've heard of her. She worked for Gaea during the giant war. She even Charmspoke her father and brothers into helping Gaea, too."

Khione was glaring at her brother and making a muffled insult. Zethes merely smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry sister, dear, I'm afraid I can't hear you." Cal laughed idiotically. Khione looked downright murderous now. Zethes only smiled more broadly. "Oh, cheer up. Only a hundred more years and then your punishment will end."

Zethes then turned to Boreas and bowed. My friends and I followed suit. Boreas waved to indicate we could rise. Zethes said something in French and motioned to me and my friends. Augustus took over. "Votre Majesté," he said, "je suis Augustus Grace. Et c'est Elizabeth," he motioned to me, "et Jake," he motioned to Jake.

Boreas reacted with a small smile, clearly surprised that Augustus knew French. I guess it made him happy that, even in summer, there were demigods that spoke French. "Vous parlez français? Trés bien!"

"Oui, Votre Majesté," Augustus responded. They exchanged what I guessed were pleasantries for a few moments. Clearly Augustus was laying on the charm thick, trying to put the king in a good mood. Not even the magical kind of charm. Just the normal kind. It seemed to be working.

Jake cleared his throat. "Hey, Augustus, you mind filling us in with what you two have been talking about?"

"Oh, sorry," Gus said. "I was just enjoying speaking with the king so much that I almost forgot you guys were here."

Boreas laughed. I took the opportunity to lean forward and whisper, "You don't have to fool me and Jake."

Augustus leaned back very slightly and whispered back, "He speaks English, too. Mom and Dad told me. He understood what I just said. It was for his benefit, not yours." Boreas stopped laughing slowly, and Gus jumped back in, "Votre Majesté," he said, "français est nettement supérieure, mais mes amis parlent que l'anglais. Serait Votre Majesté daigne parler dans leur langue? Ce serait une grande gentillesse à mes amis."

"I didn't catch any of that," I muttered.

"Your friend asked if I would be willing to speak in English," Boreas said with a heavy accent, "so that you may all understand our conversation. And indeed I shall deign to speak in your tongue, as Augustus Grace has honored me by speaking in mine."

"Well, thank you very much your majesty," I said, bowing again.

"It is no trouble," Boreas said, waving a hand dismissively. "Now, tell me, what brings three young heroes to my domain? Especially in this season."

"We're on a quest," Augustus said. "Just this morning we met Artemis. Artemis foresaw that without your assistance our quest would fail."

"Indeed?" Boreas said thoughtfully. "And what is the nature of your quest?"

"Alex de Marco, a son of Zeus, is being held hostage," Jake explained. "We're trying to save him."

"A son of Zeus, you say?" Boreas said. "Hm, that is troubling. But I fail to see how I am expected to help."

"Artemis suggested that you could speed us on our way," I explained. "Our destination is near Cartwright. By car we'll never make it in time to save the son of Zeus."

"Cartwright?" Boreas said. "That's well outside of the gods' sphere of influence… I suppose I could get you there, though, by sending you on some of my wind spirits." My friends and I looked at each other excitedly. This was going well so far. "But tell me," Boreas continued, "what do I stand to gain by helping you?"

"Favor with Zeus," Augustus said. "He'll probably reward you for helping us save his son."

"Pah," Boreas spat. "I want no favor from Zeus. He who favors my hated enemy, Notus."

"Oh," Augustus faltered. Jake and I glanced at each other. That was an unexpected and troubling development. "Well… is there some other way we can repay you for your aid, your majesty?"

Boreas stroked his beard and looked at us. "Perhaps. I believe that Notus has sent the monopods that infest my city."

"Monopods, sir?" Jake asked.

"Also known as skiapods," Boreas said. "The hideous one-legged creatures that have recently overtaken my beautiful city. I believe Notus has sent them to annoy me. Kill their leader and bring me proof of your victory. Then I shall grant you aid."

"But they're not causing anyone harm," I protested. "We saw them earlier. They're completely peaceful. Why would you want us to hurt them?"

"Because they serve Notus," Boreas growled. "I am sure of it. If you want my assistance, you must do as I command."

Gus frowned at Jake and me, then turned back to Boreas. "We don't have much choice," he said regretfully. "We need Boreas's help." I frowned unhappily. He was right, of course, but I didn't like that we were just going to attack some peaceful creatures whose only crime was just having one leg. Hopefully we could figure out some way to trick Boreas without actually killing the monopods' leader, but a solution didn't immediately jump out at me. "Comme vous le dites, Votre Majesté." Augustus turned back to us and whispered. "Come on guys, let's go."

* * *

 **AN: Alright, hopefully I'll see you guys again this weekend, but otherwise, I'll be back with chapter 16 next Tuesday! (Also, sorry if I butchered French)**


	16. Chapter 16: We Commit Murder

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry that I wasn't able to get chapter 16 up over the weekend, but here it is today! I want to, always, shout out to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, and/or followed this story or me personally. I really appreciate it. I write this story for all you guys.**

 **This chapter reads a bit quickly. It's not particularly short, but as I was reading through it, it did go by rather quickly. Just something I noticed about it. Fair warning about next chapter: it is likely to be _very_ long. So just a warning about that. We are getting really close to the end. I'm really excited for you guys to read the climactic chapters of this book. Trust me, I've got some really incredible things coming up!**

 **Okay, enough teasing you for what's to come. I'll see you guys this weekend with chapter 17. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 16: We Commit Murder and I Hate It

"I don't like this," I said as we exited the hotel. "Why does Boreas hate the monopods so much anyway?"

"You heard him," Jake said. "He thinks Notus sent them here to annoy him."

"So what do we do?" Gus asked. "We aren't getting help unless we bring him proof that we killed their leader. And if you haven't noticed, it's already well into the afternoon. We're on the clock."

I sighed. "But they seem perfectly peaceful. Maybe we can think of some other way to do this that doesn't involve killing anything."

Gus considered this. "Yeah, maybe we can. But we've got to know something about the monopods first. Like, what do the myths say about them?"

Jake and Gus both looked at me, but I only shrugged. "I don't have the answer." Usually, I would. I knew a fair deal about monsters, but monopods were too obscure for even me. But surely someone back at camp knew something about them. I pulled out my phone. Maybe Jocelyn would know… information was kinda her thing. But I didn't have any cell service in Canada. "I've got an idea, though," I said. "But we need to go someplace with WiFi so I can make a call."

"There's a McDonald's down the block," Jake said. "They always have free WiFi."

"Good," Gus said, "we can eat, too. Because I'm starving. All I've eaten the past two days have been the snacks from the bag Artemis gave us."

"Gave me," I corrected. "You're a boy, she didn't give you anything." Gus stuck his tongue out at me playfully. At any rate, Gus was right. Food had been rather sparse on this particular quest, and we needed to eat something substantial soon. "Well then, Mickey D's it is. Lead the way, Jake."

* * *

While Gus went up with the rest of our money to get the food, I connected my phone to the WiFi and called Jocelyn. The screen lit up with her face after a couple rings. "Yo, Elizabeth! You look a lot better. Though your cheek is a little red. Did someone hit you?"

"Yeah, earlier this morning," I said. "And yeah, I got cleaned up, got some new clothes."

"Where are you guys?" Jocelyn asked. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"Quebec City," I said. "And we're in a bit of a pickle."

Jake leaned over so that Jocelyn could see him. "We need Boreas's help, but he won't give it to us unless we do what he says."

"And what does he want you guys to do?" Jocelyn asked.

"Well there are these peaceful guys roaming around the city," I explained. "Apparently they're new. Anyway, Boreas is convinced that Notus sent them here to torment him. They're just like humans, except they've only got one leg centered right underneath their torso. At any rate, Boreas wants us to kill their leader. I guess he thinks that'll get rid of all of them."

Jocelyn grimaced. "Well that sounds like an unpleasant assignment. But why'd you call me?"

"We don't know anything about the monsters," Gus said, appearing suddenly behind me. "Hi, Jocelyn, by the way." Gus set down the tray he was carrying, then turned back to the camera. "They're called monopods. You don't happen to know anything about them do you? Because Elizabeth doesn't seem to have a clue."

"Hey!" I protested.

"So you do know what they are?" Gus asked cheekily.

My face burned a little. Jocelyn just snickered. "Okay, lovebirds, that's enough." That effectively shut Gus up, too. My face got even hotter. Jake snickered quietly. "Anyway, I don't know anything about monopods, but I bet the camp library would have something."

"Camp has a library?" I asked. I didn't know anything about that.

Theo elbowed his way into the frame. "She means the Athena cabin. She likes to break in there and steal books from time to time. Also, hi!"

"Hey Theo!" I said.

"Anyway, you called at the perfect time," Jocelyn said. "The Athena campers are drilling formations right now. I'll get into the cabin, see if I can find anything on the monopods and give you a call back."

"Alright, talk to you in a bit," I said. The screen went dark. I set down my phone and leaned back, looking at the food Gus had gotten for us.

"Got a bit of everything," Gus said. "Couple burgers, couple things of chicken nuggets. I even got one fillet o' fish, if anyone likes those."

I scowled. "Fish? Really? I'm disgusted."

Gus looked crestfallen. "What, is that a descendant of Poseidon thing? You don't like it when people eat fish?"

"Why does everyone think that?" I asked. "No, it's not a descendant of Poseidon thing. Dad loves the taste of fish. No, I just think fish is gross. I'll take the Big Mac," I added, reaching for the box and a thing of fries.

There was silence for a few minutes while we all dug into our food. Vaguely I wondered whether I should take the chance to tell them about Gaius. It _did_ seem like the perfect opportunity. I wasn't sure when the three of us would just get a chance to relax again. On the other hand, I still hadn't figured out how I was going to start the conversation. Maybe it was actually because I didn't really _want_ to talk about it. I mean, I wanted Gus and Jake to know, but I didn't want to actually have to tell them.

Just as I was about to make up my mind and go for it, Gus spoke up. "So I've been thinking about the monopods. How we can manage this without killing them."

"What'd you think of?" Jake asked.

"When we find their leader, we talk to him, or her," Gus explained, "and ask them to leave the city. We bring something back from their leader's place, show it to Boreas. The monopods will be gone and we won't have to kill them."

I nodded. "That should work. But we still have to figure out where their home base is."

"Hopefully Jocelyn can help us figure that out when she calls back," Jake said.

"Yeah," Gus said. "I really think this might work."

"It's good thinking, but let's not count our chickens before they hatch," I said. "Even if what Jocelyn tells us is compatible with your plan, something always seems to go wrong at the last second. You mark my words, this won't be easy."

"Way to be a party pooper," Gus complained. "Come on, Elizabeth, I feel good about this one."

"I hope you're right," I said.

"Not to change the subject or anything," Jake interrupted, "but I think it's high time we start planning for what we'll do when we get to Marina's place. I found some satellite images of the place online. It's a big villa on the edge of a cliff overlooking the North Atlantic. It looks like the whole place is surrounded by walls. Getting in won't be easy."

"What about from the cliff side?" I asked. "Is that side walled?"

Jake shook his head. "No, but the cliff is sheer and it's pretty high. Plus we'd have to start right in the water."

Gus frowned. "Not ideal, but better than having to get in from one of the sides with the walls. I feel like that's a sure-fire way to get spotted. Plus we've all had rock-climbing lessons back at camp. We can do it."

I scratched my chin, thoughtfully. I hadn't thought about it in a few hours, but I had to be the one to fight Marina, according to Poseidon. I wasn't sure I fancied being tired when I came up against her, especially because she could apparently control water. Still, I didn't have a better idea. "Cliff it is, then."

"What about when we get in there?" Jake asked.

"We're going to have to play it by ear," Gus said. "Unless you were able to find the blueprints for the place online."

"As much as I hate to agree with Gus, he's right," I put in. "I love a good plan, too, but we can't make one on information we don't have."

Jake sighed. "I hate playing things by ear. And that's all we've done this trip." He growled. "Why couldn't we have just gotten a prophecy?! This whole stinking quest we've had no guidance at all."

"Hey, calm down," Gus said. "We'll be alright. We'll succeed, and we'll all get home in one piece. Sure, we don't have a prophecy to work with, but I know we can do this."

Privately, I thought about what Poseidon had said about me facing terrible pain. Nevertheless, I said, "Gus is right. Besides, having a prophecy doesn't always make things clear. Usually it just makes things more confusing. Trust me on this one, we're better off this way."

Before Jake could respond, my phone rang. Jocelyn was calling me back. "What's up?" I asked as the screen lit up with her face. "What did you find?"

"Not a whole lot," she said with a frown. "The ancient dudes didn't know squat about them except they were from far away. They thought the monopods were from India, which is code for 'the ends of the earth.' Since then we really haven't found out much either. I guess demigods who've run into them in the past few centuries agree with you guys; they're usually pretty peaceful. No records of any demigods fighting them."

"That's not really any help to us," I said. "Anything else you can tell us? What about where they live? Was there anything about that?"

"Apparently they prefer underground places," Jocelyn answered. "That any help?"

I looked at Jake and Gus, then back at the phone's screen. "Yeah, that'll do. Thanks Joce!"

"No problem," she said. "You guys be careful now. Or at least stay alive."

"We'll do our best," I said. "With any luck, we'll be back at camp soon." I hung up the phone. I looked at Jake and Augustus. "Underground, then. You know what that means, guys?"

"No, but I bet you'll tell us," Gus said.

"Come on, sewers," I said like it was completely obvious (which it was). "They're probably living in the sewers."

* * *

"Ew!" Gus said as he splashed down into the water.

"Don't be a baby," I said.

"Which way should we go?" Jake asked as he landed.

I looked down both directions, thinking. Luckily, I didn't end up having to guess, as one of the monopods rounded the corner down to the right. "Oh," he said in surprise. "Hello, there. Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah," I said uncertainly. "We uh… we were wondering where your leader was and if we could go speak to them?"

"Ah, you want to see the king," the monopod said. "Yes, right this way, then." He started hopping off from the way he came. My friends and I glanced at each other.

"So far so god?" Gus said.

"Guess so," I said. We hurried to catch up with the monopod we were following. He looked like a young man, with short black hair, a striped t-shirt, size twenty-three shoe, and dark blue jeans. Or jean. Whatever. "So, what's your name?" I asked.

"Todd," the monopod said. "How about you guys?"

"I'm Elizabeth," I said. "These are my friends Augustus and Jake."

"Nice to meet you," Todd said pleasantly. "You three are demigods?"

"Jake is," I answered. "Augustus and I are legacies. Our parents are demigods. We're still directed descended from gods, though."

"Ah, I see," Todd said. "Well, welcome to our abode. We've just moved in, so it could use some fixing up, but before long this'll be a great place!"

"Why do you guys live underground anyway?" Gus asked. "Seems to me there are nicer places to live up above in the city."

Todd shrugged. "We've always lived underground. It's comfortable to us. Besides, we don't want to get in the way of the people living up above." Jake, Gus, and I all looked at each other. I could tell they were thinking the same thing: that we really hoped we wouldn't have to kill these guys. "Anyway, the king's throne room is right through here," Todd said, waving his hand to a plain metal door.

We looked at each other again. I nodded to Gus. He pushed on the door and led the way into the "throne room." The room wasn't that big, but it was decently sized. In the center there was a big generator. In front of the generator was a large wooden chair, and sitting in it was a monopod who I could only assume was the king. He didn't look all that different than any of the others. Same clothes, same short hair. The only difference was that he wore a simple golden crown on his head. There were four others around him wearing armor and holding spears. His guards, no doubt.

"Oh, hello," the king said pleasantly. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Ian, king of the monopods. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

My friends and I bowed slightly. "Your majesty," Gus said, "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but unfortunately we're in something of a tricky situation."

"Please, elaborate," King Ian said.

Gus looked at me uncertainly. I nodded reassuringly. He could do this. I had faith in him. Gus turned back to the king. "Well you see, sir, we're on a quest, but we've reached a stopping block. We need the help of Boreas, lord of the north wind. But unfortunately, he'll only give us help if we do something for him."

King Ian sighed. "He wants us gone, doesn't he?"

"Y-yes sir," Augustus said uncertainly. "You don't sound very surprised."

"We've been pushed from place to place for years," King Ian said. "The gods find us repulsive. Just because we have only one leg. We're just as human as you three. We just want to find a good place to live."

I knit my eyebrows. I _really_ didn't like this. Boreas was using us as bullies. That wasn't what we were supposed to be doing. Gus didn't seem to like it either. "I'm sorry, your highness. If we had our way we wouldn't be here trying to drive you out. But we really need Boreas's help, and he seems to be under the impression that Notus sent you here. He didn't did he?" The king scoffed, which was answer enough. "Thought not," Gus continued. "Unfortunately, he told us we had to kill you, but we don't want to do that. If you and your people just leave the city, it won't have to come to that. We can lie to Boreas and tell him we killed you."

King Ian sighed. "I'm afraid that's not going to work, young man. I will not have my people forced out of yet another home."

"Your majesty, we're trying to help," Gus protested.

"But you 'need' to complete your quest," King Ian said. "Typical of heroes. Regardless of the needs of others, your needs always come first, don't they?"

"It's not like that," Gus protested. "But someone is going to die –"

"Someone is going to die anyway!" King Ian protested. "We've reached an impasse. You need to do what's best for you, and I need to do what's best for my people. The choice is yours, young man. You can leave and find another way to continue your quest, or you can do what Boreas sent you here to do."

"Please," I cut in finally. "We don't want to hurt anyone. Isn't leaving better than violence?"

"Not when you've been pushed from place to place for more than ten years," King Ian replied. "Eventually you have to make a stand. Now make your choice, heroes."

The king's guards pointed their spears at us. Gus turned and looked at Jake and I. "It's your call, dude," Jake said. "Elizabeth and I are with you, even if what you choose isn't pleasant."

I nodded. "We've – we've got you, Gus." I didn't like it, but we were out of options anyway. The king wasn't going to back down, so we couldn't either.

"I'm sorry, sir," Gus said, turning back to the king and drawing his sword. "We have to do this."

"Then so must I," the king said regretfully. He snapped his fingers, and his guards advanced. Then he, too, stood and pulled a sword out from behind his throne. Jake and I drew our own weapons, and the fight began.

Jake and I split apart, each going after two guards, while Augustus charged straight ahead and clashed with the king himself. The two guys I was fighting both thrust their spears at me. I rolled to the left and countered with an upward swipe. My opponents backed up quickly. They were surprisingly agile considering they only had only leg, and surprisingly good fighters despite the fact that they were a supposedly peaceful people. They repositioned so that they could try to stab at my sides, but I dropped low and swept the single leg out from under one of them. Before I could stab him, his friends pulled a tricky feat by kicking me in the side. I rolled away with a cough while the guard that kicked me landed back on his giant foot. That thing packed a punch. I leaped back on my feet just in time to intercept the next spear attack.

Meanwhile, from the corner of my eye, I watched Jake and Gus's progress. Jake was having a hard time with his two guys. His hammer had an incredibly short range, so it was far too easy for the two monopods he was fighting to keep him at a safe distance. Still, he was doing well, bashing aside their attacks and using his heavier weapon to his advantage. Gus and King Ian seemed to be a relatively even match with their swords. They traded offense and defense on a pretty regular basis. The two celestial bronze weapons were sending sparks flying with each collision. The king must've had a considerable amount of training to be holding his own so well against Augustus. I wondered vaguely why Gus didn't just use his wind powers to help him, but I wasn't in a great place to yell out advice.

My two guys had backed me up against the wall. I was ducking and weaving around their spear strikes, which glanced off the wall with sparks. I was trying to find an opening to attack, though to be completely honest, my heart wasn't all the way in this fight. I didn't particularly feel like killing these guys. Still, a girl has to do what she has to do. I sidestepped another spear strike and brought my sword upwards in a destructive arch. The shaft of the spear was cut in half. I spun in a circle, kicking the now-disarmed monopod over. As I spun, I transformed Marianas to trident mode. The longer weapon caught my other opponent by surprise, and before he could adjust his guard, I'd stabbed him in the chest. He burst into dust, which was good. I'd been a little worried they wouldn't, since the king had mentioned that they were practically human.

I turned to take care of the guy I'd kicked over, only to find a knife swiping at my face. He'd recovered remarkably quickly. I lurched backwards in surprise. The blade missed my nose by millimeters. I brought Marianas back up, transforming it back to sword form as I did so and struck the knife away, but the monopod I was fighting used his arm's new momentum to his advantage, and brought the dagger whistling around towards my thigh. I parried quickly, then jammed my left elbow in his face. Blood immediately squirted from his nose. I used the move to my advantage, and sliced off the monopod's arm. He burst apart into dust.

Jake had just shattered one of his guy's spears to splinters. He bashed the guard over the head and he crumpled, dissolving to dust on the way down. He brought the hammer swinging around with impressive speed and force, nailing the other guy so hard in the chest that his breast plate caved in, and the monopod imploded into dust. "Nice one," I said grimly.

"Thanks," Jake replied. "Just wished we didn't have to."

We both turned our attention to Augustus and King Ian. We ran over to help, but Gus yelled, "No, don't. I want this to be a fair fight. One on one. The king deserves at least that much."

"Noble words from the hero who's trying to kill me," the king said, backing away. The two of them circled each other slowly, taking a pause in the fighting.

"I didn't want it to come to this," Augustus said. "Believe me, I really didn't, your highness. And it can stop right now. You can take the rest of your people and leave here. Leave your sword, and I'll take it back to Boreas as proof that I defeated you. He need never know that you live."

"I will not back down because of the petty whims of a god," the king said. "Not again."

"Then I have no choice," Augustus said with a frown. He ran at the king again, bringing his sword in overhead with a double handed move that would've easily split a person in two. The king made the perfect counter: he stabbed straight forward, forcing Augustus to abandon his attack to defend his chest. I winced. Gus was almost too slow. Half a second slower and he would've been mincemeat. Still, he didn't back down. Gus continued to push the offensive, picking up the speed of his strikes. His blade whirled so quickly it was a blur. King Ian seemed to be getting a little nervous. He was keeping up, but just barely. I understood now why Augustus hadn't been using his wind powers. He'd been holding back. And he still was, but it was proving too much for the king.

Augustus levied a kick against his opponent, and the king flew back with such force that when he slammed into the generator in the middle of the room, the metal dented magnificently. The king's sword clattered to the floor. Gus levelled his sword at the king's throat. "Please, this is your last chance. I don't want to do this."

The king glared at Augustus. "Good. I'm glad you don't want to do this. May your guilt stay with you to the end of your days." He spat at Augustus's shoes. Augustus grimaced, then thrust. The king was no more.

The three of us stood there in absolute silence. Finally, after a couple minutes, Jake said, "Well that was shitty."

It was about to get shittier, because at that moment the door behind us opened, and Todd, our monopod friend from earlier, came in. "What's going on? I heard a bunch of noises then they all stopped…" He trailed off as he noticed the piles of dust, and the three of us still holding our weapons. Tears sprung to his eyes. "You did this! Why… why would you do such a thing?"

"Todd, please," I begged. "We can explain –"

He pulled out a knife and ran at me, letting out a guttural yell. I closed my eyes as I swung my sword. Todd's knife never made contact with me. When I opened my eyes again they stung from tears. I turned to Gus, full of guilt and rage. "Grab the crown. We've got a god to go see."

* * *

I'd been doing pretty well recently with keeping my temper in check. When I got mad, I was impulsive. And impulsivity was my fatal flaw. I knew that. Sure, I'd gotten mad at Gus a couple times on the trip, but I liked to think I'd done relatively well keeping my cool for the most part. All that went out the door as I stormed into Boreas's throne room, Gus and Jake at my heels. "Elizabeth," Gus hissed, "I know you're upset, but please be careful about what you say."

"Yeah, don't get us all killed," Jake whisper-yelled at me. "Or worse, turned into one of these ice statue things. Because I'm like ninety percent certain they all used to be real people."

I ignored them, which maybe wasn't my best decision. When we got close to Boreas's throne, I yelled out, "Your majesty, we've returned."

Boreas climbed to his feet. "Excellent! I take it you've killed the leader of those vile monopods?"

"They were perfectly peaceful!" I yelled, coming to a halt. "They were just looking for a place where they could live safely! How dare you use us to be bullies? How dare you use us as assassins? You're horrible!"

The air in the room suddenly dropped about twenty degree. The girl in chains next to the throne got a glint in her eyes like she was about to see a treat. That's when Jake clamped his hand over my mouth. I continued to yell at Boreas from behind his calloused hand, but Gus swooped in, his voice heavy with charmspeak, "Elizabeth, you're just overreacting. What you really want to do right now is take a nice nap."

Suddenly, I was overwhelmingly tired. Even though I knew it was only a trick to get me to shut up, I couldn't resist Gus's compelling voice. I was drifting off, and everything was going black. The last thing I heard was Gus saying in French, "Je présente mes excuses pour le comportement de mon ami."

* * *

 **AN: Sorry again if I butchered the French! I'll see you guys next time, when Elizabeth finally gets to meet Marina (gasp!).**


	17. Chapter 17: I Finally Meet Marina

**AN: Hey guys! As promised, here's the next chapter. In case you didn't see the Author's Note I posted on Saturday, life got in the way and I wasn't able to get this chapter ready for you guys then. But as I said, to make it up to you guys, you get three chapters this week. Today, tomorrow, and either Friday or (probably) Saturday. Also, I rearranged a couple of things, so this book will likely be twenty-one chapters, but we'll see. Anyway, this one is rather long (eighteen pages on Word), so I hope you enjoy.**

 **One review I want to address real quick.  
MoonLitt Tears says: "You know I hope that Marina isnt like me cuz my name is Marina"  
Well you're about to meet her in person, so I'll let you be the judge of that.**

 **Alright guys, enjoy the chapter. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 17: I Finally Meet Marina

I wondered vaguely if I was ever going to sleep peacefully again. In my dream, I found myself back in the ruins of Erin Cross's house. Cinders were drifting down all around me. Everything was ash. A couple of small fires burned in corners of the lot. The sound of sirens and the sight of flashing lights far off in the distance caught my attention. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say I was in the ruins of the living room, although it was nearly impossible to say since the house was completely demolished. But the dead bodies were kind of a giveaway.

Honestly, the sight of the bodies made me sick. Alabaster's body was broken and charred. I don't know how the police possibly identified him later, because I couldn't recognize him at all. The only reason I knew the body was Alabaster's was because Gaius wasn't crying over his body. The body Gaius was crying over was obviously his mother's. She was charred and blackened, too, but some of her face had survived the explosion, though it was bloody and bruised. Her eyes stared blankly straight up.

The wails coming from Gaius were almost unbearable, yet he was physically fine. Too fine, like… he wasn't even dirty. In fact, a thin gold sheen surrounded him. What was it? Clearly whatever the golden sheen was, it had protected him from the explosion. As I watched, the golden sheen around Gaius faded. Simultaneously, in the center of the room, Kronos's transparent golden form flickered to life. So Kronos had used his powers to protect Gaius… Very interesting. Of course, there was one big problem: Kronos had survived the blast.

Suddenly, Kronos grunted, and his form flickered. Gaius looked up in surprise. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying so much. His face was soaked with tears. He even had that thing going on where snot bubbles out of your nose when you sob. Gross. Still, Gaius managed to pull himself together enough to say, "St – stay back."

"I couldn't do anything to you even if I wanted to," Kronos grunted, his form still flickering.

"You did this!" Gaius yelled. "You – you're the reason mom is – is –"

"Dead?" Kronos said. He chuckled weakly with irony. "For once, I am not the cause of a mortal's death. That was Alabaster Torrington's foolish attempt to banish my consciousness." He grunted again, and his form sank to a knee. "Unfortunately, it worked. I don't have much time left."

"And why did he try to banish you?" Gaius said, somehow managing to pull off coy through his hysteria. "Because you're dangerous." Damn. Clearly the kid had been paying closer attention than I realized in the last dream. And he was scary smart for an eight year old.

"No," Kronos responded. "He tried to banish me because he was a fool. But all is not lost. I used my limited powers to make sure that you lived. And you did."

"Why do I matter to you?" Gaius asked, sniffling. The emergency vehicles were getting closer, but I completely blocked out the noise of the sirens. This was it. This would explain why Kronos had made sure Gaius was born.

"You matter to me because you are my son," Kronos said. "And you have a great destiny. I am Kronos, Lord of Time, which makes you the Heir to Time. When I –" He flickered again. "When I still lived, I foresaw that a mortal son of mine would have an important destiny. One that would hurt the Olympian gods. I do not know what your destiny is, but –" He flickered again and grimaced. "I am out of time. Fulfill your destiny. Destroy… the… Olympians." Kronos faded away completely. I stood there, lost in thought. So that was it. Kronos had seen that Gaius had some kind of important future, and ensured that he'd get a chance to fulfill the destiny he saw. Kronos's plans really did have many layers. No wonder he was called the Crooked One.

Meanwhile, Gaius sat there over his mother's body, stunned and sobbing. He was still like that when the emergency workers showed up and tried to pry him from his mother's body. But he wouldn't move.

* * *

My eyes snapped open. As usual, I found myself completely disoriented, though I had good reason to be this time. I was lying in sand. About ten feet away was water, lapping at what I could only assume was a beach of some kind in small waves. The sky above the ocean was dark and spotted with innumerable stars. It was a rather cool night, I could tell, but my back was rather warm. From behind me came flickering orange light and low voices. I sat up and turned around. When I did, a jacket fell off of me. But I was wearing my jacket, so whose jacket…

"Ah, you're awake," said Gus. It was his jacket. He wasn't wearing his. Had he used his jacket to cover me while I slept? That was… rather sweet, actually.

"Where are we?" I asked. "What's going on?"

Jake pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. A huge cliff loomed overhead. At the top, I could see artificial lights glowing softly. "We're here. Marina's place. Turns out there is a bit of beach at the bottom of the cliff."

"Wha –"

"Boreas's help," Augustus explained. "It was tricky, though, Elizabeth. He was really pissed off. I'm not gonna lie, you almost got all of us killed."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I just – I just lost my temper. I was so angry and upset about what he made us do."

"I was too," Gus said. "I still am. But yelling in a god's face isn't going to do anything but get you killed."

I frowned. "I know. I'm sorry."

Gus gazed at me intensely for a few seconds before Jake cleared his throat, somewhat awkwardly. "It's alright Elizabeth," he said. "It's behind us now."

I nodded my thanks to Jake. "So what happened after you put me to sleep?" I asked. Yes, I remembered that. It was a little embarrassing, but as I'd almost gotten all of us killed, I supposed I didn't have any reason to complain.

"Well," Gus said, "I was able to calm Boreas down using a combination of French and Charmspeak. Eventually, I even got him to give us the help he'd agreed to give us. He used the winds to send us here, to this exact spot. Took about an hour. You were still sleeping when we got here, so Jake and I just decided to let you sleep. Besides, it was starting to get dark, and we didn't want to try and climb that cliff without proper light. So we started a fire with some of the driftwood along the beach."

I scooted closer to the fire and tossed Gus his jacket. "Well thanks. And thanks for the jacket-blanket."

Gus shrugged. "No problem." Though when he put his jacket back on he seemed to relax more. No doubt he'd been tensed up, trying not to shiver and give away how cold he was. That made me roll my eyes just a little.

I stared into the fire, thinking about my dream, and about what we were about to do. I looked up the cliff at the lights that marked Marina's villa-compound thing. In the morning, we'd be climbing that cliff. Everything hinged on tomorrow. Either our quest would succeed or it would fail, and Alex de Marco would live or die by our hand.

Marina was up there, and I was going to fight her. Somehow I'd have to beat her, despite the fact that she could control water. And based on how shaky my own control of water was, I was almost positive she'd be better at it than me. But how could she control water anyway? She wasn't Poseidon's daughter. _You demigods just don't have any manners, do you?_ Marcus had said. _You demigods_. As if he and the people working with him weren't. Suddenly, the missing puzzle piece fell into place.

"Oh," I whispered, my brain flying at high speed and making connections at light speed. "Oh my gods. Of course."

"What?" Gus asked. "What is it?"

I shook my head. "I – I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I may have just figured something out."

"And what is it?" Gus asked.

"Nothing – nothing urgent," I said. "Please, Gus, drop it for now."

He looked disappointed, but he dropped it like I asked. We all lapsed back into silence. Of course that was the answer. It seemed so obvious now that I'd figured it out. Why would Gaius have been the only one? But if I was right, and all the apparently demigods working for Gaius were actually… Well, I just wondered how it was even possible.

As for Gaius, I didn't even know what to think about my most recent dream. He had been devastated by his mother's death, that much was clear to me. Yet, Kronos's words had obviously stuck with him. Because he was trying to do exactly what Kronos had said: destroy the gods. And somehow he'd gone from an orphan to being the leader of an organization with apparently limitless resources.

I looked back up at Gus and Jake. It was time they knew the truth. "Hey, guys," I said. "Listen, I'm ready to tell you about – about Gaius."

They immediately became sharp with attention. "You're sure?" Gus asked.

I nodded. "It's important to understand who he is. The woman we're facing tomorrow," _I'm facing tomorrow_ , "works for him. So does the Marcus guy we ran into. All of this is because of Gaius."

"So who is he?" Gus asked.

"And why does he want you kept alive?" Jake added. I'd almost forgotten that the venti and Marcus had mentioned that piece.

"Apparently," I said slowly, "it's because of a prophecy. See, according to Gaius, the two of us are in a prophecy together. Someday, the two of us will have some big fight. He made it sound like the fight was going to determine the fate of the world or something like that. He wants me alive because of that prophecy, I guess."

"Have you heard the prophecy?" Gus asked.

I shook my head. "No. No one seems to know what it says except Gaius, and maybe some of the other people he works with. It's like a missing prophecy or something."

"You've met him, I suppose?" Jake said.

"Last summer," I affirmed. "It was on my quest. He was the one who'd kidnapped Persephone. When I met him, he told me about this prophecy, but obviously didn't tell me about its exact contents. The thing was, that whole quest was very carefully arranged by him to be some kind of 'test' for me. He wanted to make sure I was a worthy opponent, or something like that."

"Maybe he was just faking about the prophecy," Gus suggested. "You know, just to freak you out."

"I don't think so," I said. "He seemed pretty certain, and several gods have hinted that my future might be dangerous, although none of them seem to know the specifics. Besides, you heard them; the venti knew who I was, the troops with Marcus knew who I was – Gaius has prioritized my survival. Not all the people working with him like it. You heard what Marcus was saying, Jake."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, you jeopardize their plan. I must say that I agree with them. No offence, but leaving you alive is a pretty stupid move on their part."

"You're right," I said. "It doesn't really make sense. The fact that Gaius is specifically leaving me alive for this eventual fight means that I could beat him, and that I could thwart his plans every step of the way. It is stupid. But Gaius… well, he definitely isn't stupid. He built this massive organization. He kidnapped a goddess last summer. Probably two, because I'm convinced that he's behind Hecate's disappearance. Those things take skill and intelligence. And that's not even to mention the fact that he's kept the truth about his identity from becoming widely known for so long."

"And what _is_ the truth about his identity?" Gus asked.

I took a deep breath. "He's the son of Kronos."

Jake and Gus gaped at me in silence. Finally, Jake cleared his throat and said, "That's uh… that's not possible."

"That's what I thought when I first found out," I said. "But I know it's true."

"Did he tell you?" Gus asked.

"No," I said. "I figured it out on my own. Honestly, I don't know whether he knows I've figured it out yet or not."

"How is this possible, then?" Jake asked. "Kronos has been gone for… almost twenty-six years."

"Well he's in his mid-twenties," I said. I thought about my long series of dreams about Gaius. "As to how it all happened, well… it's a long story. But back when my parents were teenagers, during the Titan War, there was a guy named Luke."

"Wasn't he Kronos's host?" Gus asked.

"Yeah, that was him," I said. "Before he started hosting Kronos, though, he fell in love with a mortal woman named Erin. After Luke began hosting Kronos, he and Erin… you know. 'Did it.' Gaius was the result of that."

"How do you know all this?" Jake asked.

"I've been having dreams," I said. "My grandmother did some digging and found out quite a bit about Gaius's past. She's been showing me what she found in dreams. I guess she hopes that if I understand Gaius I can stop him and whatever he's planning."

"So the gods know about Gaius?" Gus asked.

"At least the Olympians," I confirmed. "But the problem is that Zeus has forbidden discussion about him or anything done. He thinks that if they ignore the problem it'll go away. The other gods can't openly disobey him, so nothing is happening to stop Gaius. Not unless demigods do something about him."

"And what exactly is Gaius trying to do?" Jake asked.

"Destroy the gods." After I said that, there was silence again, except for the crackle of the fire and the waves on the beach.

"Well we don't have to worry then," Gus said nervously. "Right? Because the gods are immortal. They can't be destroyed."

"Yes they can," Jake countered. "Kronos almost did twenty-six years ago. Gaea almost did it just a year after that. This is all recent history, dude."

"Yeah, but Kronos was a titan," Gus protested. "And Gaea was the oldest god of all. Gaius is… I mean, he might be the son of Kronos, but he's still only mortal. What could he possibly do to destroy the gods?"

"I don't know," I said. "But if any mortal can do it, it's him. I wouldn't put it past him."

We all lapsed back into silence, thinking. There was so much bouncing around inside my head I didn't know what to think. I considered telling my friends more: the fact that I'd have to face Marina alone, more specifics about Gaius, my newest theory, but I didn't. One look into Augustus's face, and I knew I wasn't going to. He looked worried and confused. Chiron had been right, at least partially. Gus and Jake needed to focus on the quest at hand. There was nothing we could do about Gaius right now. I didn't regret telling them the truth, but telling them more wasn't really necessary.

"I know it's a lot to think about," I said. "But you guys should get some sleep. I already slept. Now it's my turn on watch. We've got a cliff to climb in the morning, and I don't want you guys falling asleep and plummeting to your deaths."

Gus snorted. "Yeah, falling asleep is going to be real easy now."

"Just try," I said sternly.

Gus grumbled, but he leaned back in the sand to sleep. I turned to Jake. "You too. I'll wake you if I need someone to take over watch."

Jake shrugged. "I'm not really all that tired."

"Suit yourself."

"Oh, so he's allowed to stay up," Gus protested, "but I'm not?"

"Sleep," I said sternly.

Gus made another sound of protest, but he turned around and eventually fell silent. Jake poked the flames with a stick a couple times. I sat there, staring into the flames, thinking about everything. I kept finding myself distracted by the sound of Gus's breathing. Eventually it slowed down and deepened. He was asleep. I looked down at him and smiled slightly.

"You should tell him," Jake said softly.

I whipped my head back around to Jake, my face burning. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh please," Jake said, rolling his eyes. "These last couple days you two have been flirting non-stop. I see the way you look at each other. I see the way you blush. Just make a move already."

"Fine," I countered, "as long as you agree to make a move on the person _you_ like."

"You don't know who I like," Jake said defensively.

"But you _do_ like someone," I said coyly. "You sorta just admitted it. So as soon as you make a move on the person you like, I'll tell Augustus how I feel."

"It – it's not that easy."

"No it's not," I replied smugly. "Thank you for proving my point."

Jake sighed. "Alright, you win this one."

We both fell silent again, and my thoughts strayed back to Marina, waiting atop the cliff looming above us. I was supposed to fight her alone, but how was I going to do that without dying? Just how formidable was she? Because I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure her water powers could outdo my own. _As long as Jake and Gus survive, then what happens to me doesn't matter_ , I thought. As soon as the thought occurred to me, I was sorta surprised. Yet it was the truth. I would lay down my life for the two of them, even Jake, who I still didn't know all that well. They were my quest partners, and if I had to die for them, I would.

I looked back over at Jake. The son of Hephaestus looked funny hunched up next to the fire. "Hey, Jake," I said.

"Hmm?"

"I just wanted you to know that..." I hesitated. I wasn't entirely sure how to put into words what I wanted to say. "Look," I tried again, "I know we still don't know each other all that well. But I wanted to say that whatever happens tomorrow, I've got your back."

Jake gave me a bemused smile. "Uh, thanks. Same here."

"Sorry, it was just something I was thinking about," I explained shortly.

"No, you're fine," Jake said. "I know this quest has been pretty crazy, and way too fast-paced. And I know we haven't had the chance to get to know each other because of that, but the three of us make a great team. We'll succeed tomorrow. I know we will. I'm glad we're on this quest together Elizabeth. You're pretty cool."

I smiled. "Thanks. You're pretty cool, too." We fell silent again, but it wasn't long before another thought occurred to me. "Listen, Jake. I have a favor to ask you."

"And what's that?" he asked.

I paused before speaking. When I did, I spoke carefully, choosing each of my words with care. "There may come a time tomorrow when I have to do something on my own. I have a feeling that Augustus is not going to be a huge fan of that, and that could… it could jeopardize the whole quest if he won't let me go. So if it comes to it, please… please make sure to convince him to let me do what I have to."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "There's something you didn't tell Augustus and me, I take it?"

I nodded. "I don't really want to talk about it, but you have to trust me. Our quest _will_ fail if you guys don't let me handle… a particular situation on my own. You'll know what I mean if it comes to it tomorrow."

Jake looked at me searchingly. Finally, he said, "Alright, Elizabeth. I trust you. I'll make sure to keep Augustus on track."

"Thanks," I said.

We sat in silence a while longer. Eventually, Jake started nodding off, so I sent him to bed, too, leaving me to sit alone with the fire and my thoughts.

* * *

The next morning we ate the last of the snacks Artemis had given me, then we turned our attention to the cliff towering above us. "Not looking forward to this climb," Jake said.

"It'll be fine," Gus said. "Just a hundred feet or so. No biggie."

"Says the guy who can fly," I remarked snidely. "Speaking of which, why can't you just fly us all up there?"

"Too long a distance," Gus said. "Controlling three separate bodies for that type of height… well the winds don't always cooperate even under the best of circumstances. I wouldn't want to risk it and drop you two. Climbing is safer."

"Brilliant," Jake mumbled.

"Those rocks are going to tear apart our hands," I commented.

Jake stroked his chin. "Hang on, I've got an idea." He pulled off his jacket, then his plaid shirt, leaving him in a plain t-shirt. He started ripping the plaid into strips. Gus made a sound of protest. "Oh, shut up," Jake said. After he finished he dropped the plaid onto the ground and pulled his jacket back one. He began passing me and Gus strips.

"So you ruined a perfectly nice shirt for what?" Gus asked.

"Wrap them around your hands, moron," I said jokingly as I began doing just what I'd said.

"Hey!' he protested.

I stuck my tongue out at him. After a few minutes, all our hands were wrapped in cloth. "Well, it's something," I said.

"Let's do this, guys!" Gus said. With that he took a ten foot leap and grabbed onto the cliff.

"Showoff," I grumbled. Jake and I looked at each other, then approached the cliff and started to climb.

* * *

Three hours later, I pulled myself over the edge at the top, panting. It had been a grueling climb. The cloth wrapped around my hands was ripped to shreds, my hands themselves were covered in cuts. Still, we were officially in enemy territory now. We had to focus. Gus already was. He'd reached the top first. Directly in front of us was a low stone railing. He peaked over the top of it, observing the layout of the compound. He glanced over when I joined him.

"How's Jake?" he whispered.

At that moment Jake pulled himself over the edge, not nearly as winded as me, but still clearly exhausted. "Alive," he commented hoarsely.

I glanced over the railing at the compound. Jake had been right about the wall. A thin sandstone wall surrounded a huge yard. It was a good thing we'd come from the cliff side or else there would have been no getting in. In the wall directly opposite us was a metal gate and a small gate house. An asphalt lane wound its way through the emerald green lawn from the gate over to a long, low building that must've been the garage. It looked like the garage could hold ten cars, easy. The garage jutted perpendicularly out from the villa itself, which was huge. The building was three stories and sprawled out in all directions. Huge windows overlooked the lawn. Through the windows I could just tell that the house was full of the most expensive products money could buy.

There was one other important feature of the property. About twenty yards from the front door of the house was a rather large pond, the blue water glistening in the sunlight. _Great_ , I thought. _Marina has the perfect body of water to pull from when we fight_.

The strange thing was, there wasn't a person in sight. I thought for sure Marina would have some sort of security force patrolling her property, but there was no one. "I don't like it," I said lowly. "I feel like it's a trap."

"I agree," Gus said.

Jake frowned at the yard. "Well there aren't any mechanical traps. At least not nearby, anyway. I'd be able to sense them if they were there."

"Suggestions, Elizabeth?" Gus asked.

I started, somewhat surprised to be asked to give him strategy advice. Then again, it did make some sense. "The way I see it, we have three options." I explained. I pointed to the wall. We were only about twenty feet from where the wall intersected with the stone barrier we were hunched behind. "Option one, we follow the wall all the way around to the house, using its shadow to make it harder to get spotted. Option two, we follow this barrier all the way over to the other wall, then follow that over to the house. Option three is the direct route. We go straight across the lawn to the front door of the house."

Gus nodded slowly. "Okay. And what's our best bet?"

I hesitated. "I don't really like any of the options, but I think our best bet is the direct approach. While there's less cover, it also leave us exposed for the shortest possible amount of time. While both of the other options involve a bit of cover, they would take much longer, leaving us more open to being spotted. Besides, chances are we'll have to get in a fight anyway."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right. Straight across the lawn is our best bet. Besides, the direct route puts us close to that pond. If we do get attacked, you can whip out your granddaughter of Poseidon skills and fend them off."

I didn't share Jake's enthusiasm about the pond, mostly because I was sure it was there for Marina's benefit, not my own. Still, I nodded. "Yeah, if it comes to that."

"The direct route it is," Gus said. "Let's go rescue the son of Zeus."

He scrambled over the top of the low stone barrier. Jake and I followed. We all drew our weapons, keeping them at the ready. I put Marianas in trident form. It wasn't much, but I hoped the boost in my powers it provided would help me against Marina, although I wasn't sure how much that mattered. My arms felt like lead after the climb. I wasn't sure how effective I'd be against any opponent. As we crossed the lawn, all remained silent.

"This is really creepy," Gus commented.

Still we continued across the lawn, completely unscathed. We were only about twenty feet from the front door to the house when it happened. I had nearly convinced myself that we were actually going to make it. But no, a familiar voice spoke from right behind us, coming from the edge of the pond. "Hello, there!"

We turned. A woman was stepping out of the pond. She was a bit shorter than I'd thought, only about an inch taller than me. Still, she looked just like she had in her video messages: haughty expression, unforgiving sea-green eyes, blonde hair with blue highlights, bronze armor, and a twisted sword hanging at her side.

"Marina," I said lowly.

She smiled sinisterly. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Elizabeth Jackson. I cannot tell you how much I've heard about you from Gaius. You're all he ever talks about in our meetings."

"I'm flattered," I said flatly, though I stored the information away. Clearly, Gaius was even more obsessed than I'd realized.

"I must say, it was amusing watching you and your friends blunder across my lawn," she went on. She laughed harshly. "You didn't even realize I'd be hiding in the pond, did you?"

Jake and Gus both shook their heads. I said, "I knew it was a possibility." I half turned to my friends. "Go, save Alex. I'll hold her off."

"What?" Gus asked. "Are you crazy? There's three of us, let's take her together!"

"No, Gus," I said. "I need you to trust me on this. Let me hold her off, find Alex."

"I can hear you, you know," Marina called over. I ignored her and locked eyes with Jake, trying to communicate that this was the moment. He sighed.

"Augustus, she's right," Jake said. "Let's go." He placed his hand on Gus's shoulder and pulled him lightly towards the house. Gus looked upset and angry, but he finally nodded, and allowed Jake to pull him away.

I turned back to Marina just as they went through the front door. She looked completely unconcerned. "You don't seem to be too worried about stopping my friends," I noted.

Marina chuckled. "Oh, I'm not. My best people are in there waiting for them." Sure enough, the sounds of a brawl came muffled through the nearest wall of the house. I doubted myself for a split second, but I knew I had to stay focused on the enemy in front of me, especially considering what Poseidon had said. "Besides," Marina continued, "it leaves us with some quality time." She drew her twisted sword.

I stepped forward, raising my trident. "You control water," I said.

Marina laughed. "Indeed, I do."

"How?" I asked. "Answer me that."

Marina raised an eyebrow. "You mean you haven't figured it out? And I heard you were intelligent!"

"Humor me," I said dryly.

Marina laughed. "Oh, I like you. It'll make killing you so much better! But what makes you think I'll just tell you how I control water?" Oh good, she was planning to kill me. Gaius's lieutenants _really_ weren't on board with the whole "keeping me alive" thing, were they?

"Because you strike me as the type of person who likes to brag," I replied. "Now are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to kick your ass without giving you the chance to explain 'why you're better'?"

Marina rolled her eyes. "As if. But fine, I'll humor you. I can control water because of my father, Oceanus."

It was just as I feared. Gaius really _wasn't_ the only one. "I thought as much," I said. There was no point delaying things any longer, and I could tell that Marina was getting tired of the whole "talking before the fight" thing, too. "I'm sorry to inform you, daughter of Oceanus, that your father's time is over. Poseidon's in charge of the seas now. And I'm his granddaughter. It's time to step aside."

Marina laughed. "You honestly think you're better than me?"

 _No_ , I thought. _But admitting that hardly fits in with trash talk_. "There's only one way to find out," I said aloud.

Marina grinned coolly. "I couldn't agree more." Without further ado, she attacked.

* * *

 **AN: HAHAHAHA you thought the fight was going to happen today? I'm sorry for laughing, but I do like me a good cliffhanger. Don't worry, you don't have to wait very long. I'll see you guys tomorrow with chapter 18.**


	18. Chapter 18: Marina Gets Cocky

**AN: Hey guys! As promised, here's the next chapter. This one was a whole lot of fun to write, so I'm really looking forward to letting you guys read it. Thank you guys for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and/or following this story. I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but any and all support I've gotten so far has meant a lot to me :)**

 **As I said, this one was a whole lot of fun to write, and there's plenty of excitement and action in it. I won't keep you guys any longer. Here's the next chapter. DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 18: Marina Gets Cocky

Marina yelled and spread her arms. Water surged out of the pond behind her and rocketed towards me in two high-pressured streams. I held my trident horizontally out in front of me. I was able to deflect the attack, but just barely. Marina's water control _way_ outstripped my own. As soon as the water cleared away in front of me, Marina was at me, swinging her twisted sword downwards with such force that it could've easily split me in two.

I scrambled backwards, backpedaling to avoid her onslaught of attacks. She was _fast_ , and I was definitely outmatched. I would've been outmatched even at my best, but after climbing the cliff earlier, I was in no shape for this fight. Marina kept forcing me to give ground. I was scrambling just to avoid getting sliced into tiny pieces.

Marina cleaved downward again. I met her strike halfway along my trident's staff. Marina pushed hard against the trident, but I refused to give more ground. Marina just pushed harder. I was forced to a knee. My arms shook as I tried to hold her off. Marina laughed cruelly. I needed some kind of out.

 _The water_. Fine, she was going to use the water to her advantage? So was I. I searched out with my powers, trying to latch onto the droplets of water from the streams she'd attacked me with before. My other knee hit the ground. I couldn't hold her off much longer. Suddenly, an anchor dropped into my stomach as I latched onto the water. I forced it into a single stream and made it whip around towards Marina. She must've sensed the jet coming towards her. She turned and deflected the blast with absolute ease.

I used the opportunity to climb back to my feet and take a few steps back. I was breathing heavily. Marina turned and smirked at me. "I heard you were good. I'm disappointed, Miss Jackson."

"Don't count me out just yet," I panted.

Marina rolled her eyes. "Oh whatever. I'll finish this quick. Then I'll go inside, and if there's anything left of your two friends besides grease spots, I'll finish them, too."

Blood roared in my ears. Getting angry now was not a good idea, but I did anyway. I charged at Marina, the points of my trident pointed right at her. Before I even got close, she summoned a huge wave from the pond and sent it at me. This time, there was no deflecting it. The water crashed over me and sent me flying. I slammed up against the side of her house.

Before I'd even regained my sight, I rolled to the right. Not a moment too soon. Marina was right at me again. Her sword cut a deep groove into the villa's siding. I used the brief opportunity to attack back. I lashed out with my trident and landed my first hit of the fight. The butt of my trident knocked against her head, prompting a yelp from her. I tried to follow it up with another strike, but Marina recovered quickly from the first hit. She caught my trident with her sword and pushed it down and to the side. She quickly followed up by planting a kick square in my gut.

I fell back, completely winded, but I didn't have any time to recover. Marina's sword came plummeting straight towards my head. I lifted my trident above me to catch the blow. I was forced to repel five ferocious attacks before I found a split-second opening to climb to my feet.

Of course, nothing changed about climbing to my feet. Marina continued to press the offensive. I backed up, step by step. I realized quickly what she was doing: she was trying to back me into the pond, where she'd surely be able to finish our fight in a matter of seconds. As outmatched as I was on land, there would be no hope for me in the water.

I tried to escape to the sides, but Marina just adjusted her attack and kept pushing me back towards the pond. I had to get out of this, but how? A thought occurred to me. I was in trident mode, and I _could_ summon an energy blast. But surely doing so at close range was risky? I decided it was time to find out just how risky. I caught Marina's next strike on the tips of my trident. I let loose a blast of energy. Marina went flying ten feet, screaming. It wasn't a total victory, though. The close range blast sent me skidding backwards, too. Right to the edge of the water.

I dashed forward before Marina could recover, putting some distance between myself and the water's edge. Of course, Marina got to her feet remarkably quickly. She looked disgruntled, though. Blue sparks jumped back and forth on her skin; residual energy from the blast I'd guess.

"No more playing around," Marina growled.

"Good," I taunted, as I moved sideways, trying to put more distance between myself and the pond. "I'm tired of warming up, anyway."

Marina yelled and charged straight at me. Despite my big talk, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this up for. I only hoped that Jake and Gus were having an easier time of things than I was. No sooner had that thought occurred to me, than sound of windows shattering reached me from the house, letting the sounds of the interior fully make their way out onto the lawn. There were yells, shouts, screams, and… was that a fire alarm blaring? I wanted to glance over to make sure my friends were okay, but I couldn't afford to take my eyes off of Marina.

I continued my pattern of falling back under Marina's attacks. I racked my brain for options, but none occurred to me. As far as I could tell, I was out of options. And that's when I felt another surge of anger. I wasn't going down without a fight. I whirled around my trident and switched to sword form and, even though I didn't really have a good opening, I launched into an offensive.

The unpredictable and illogical move caught Marina totally off-guard. She fell back under my sudden attack. Our swords collided with such force that sparks flew. Unfortunately, I could feel myself slowing down. I just couldn't keep up that kind of intensity for long, and especially not with my arms as tired as they already were. I'm pretty sure Marina sensed that, and she started pushing back hard. We both came to an absolute stand-still, each of us had our feet planted firmly on the ground. Our swords flew back and forth in a blur. But I couldn't match her much longer. The balance was shifting in her favor. I needed to do something fast.

Suddenly a memory flashed into my head. _Our swords collided once, twice, and… our hilts interlocked, and with an almighty twist, Matt wrenched my sword from my hands._ My old fights with Matt still had something to teach me. _Thanks little bro,_ I thought. When my sword and Marina's next clashed, I forced our hilts together and twisted.

Marina yelped as the sword was ripped from her hand. I panted, holding my sword tip to her throat. "Yield," I said.

"I don't think so," Marina growled. She yelled, and a huge wall of water slammed into me. Marina had disappeared, replaced by a miniature whirlpool swirling around me. I switched back to trident mode and thrust outward. The water exploded away from me. Marina was right behind me, sword in hand. I leaped forward just in time. Marina's sword sliced off the back of my coat. I whirled around to catch Marina's next strike with the middle of my trident.

"You know, I was a little worried when Marcus called and told me you had escaped from his custody," Marina said, pushing me back. I took two steps back. Marina struck again. "I thought you might actually be skilled or something." I tried to hold my ground, I really did, but I was running on empty. "But now I see it was all just dumb luck," Marina continued. "Sure you've got a couple tricks up your sleeve, but when it comes down to it, you can't succeed against someone with _true_ skill."

"Oh, shut up," I managed. I pushed back hard, but Marina just laughed. She stepped back suddenly, and I stumbled forward. Marina leaped over me, somehow, and stabbed downwards. I rolled forward and whirled around to catch her next strike. That's when I realized my mistake. Marina had maneuvered me around so that my back was to the pond again. And Marina was at least partially right. I had no more tricks up my sleeve to change the situation. I was out of energy, and I didn't dare risk another close range trident blast. It was all over.

I fell back under Marina's rapid blows. Soon, I was in the water up to my ankles, and only getting forced in deeper. The water pulled at me, slowing down my movements. It didn't even feel like water to me. It was more like syrup. I was up to my knees in seconds, then my waist. Soon I'd be completely submerged, where Marina would no doubt finish me off.

Speaking of which, Marina moved through the water with ease. In fact, she was becoming almost leisurely with her strikes. She was getting cocky. If I could use that to my advantage, then I could win. The problem was, I wasn't sure how to use it to my advantage. I was getting pushed farther into the water with each strike, and the more submerged I became, the more the water dragged at me and the slower I moved.

I was in up to my shoulders now, and I could barely move my trident the water was resisting me so much. Marina kicked me again, and I went somersaulting backwards through the water, completely submerged. I drifted to the bottom, and I realized something else. I couldn't breathe. Marina was cutting off my ability to breathe underwater. Just great.

Marina advanced towards me slowly across the pond's basin. Meanwhile, my lungs screamed out for air. I had not taken a proper breath before being forced underwater. I tried to swim up, but the water around me kept me pressed to the bottom. Marina laughed at me. She was about ten feet away from me now, laughing as I struggled. She wasn't even moving towards me anymore. She was just going to let me drown.

 _Grandfather_ , I prayed in a last ditch effort, _I know I'm really far north. I know this is my battle. But I'm going to die. Please, if… if you_ can _help me, do it. Otherwise, I'm dead._

Suddenly, my trident glowed bright green. I found myself able to breathe again. Instantly I was dried. A surge of energy rushed through my veins. I felt unstoppable. _This is what being Dad must be like_ , I thought.

Marina looked at me in shock, then she charged. I thrust my trident towards her and she rocketed backwards with such force she left her shoes behind. I followed my instincts and made myself shoot upwards on a spout of water. I broke the surface of the pond and floated atop my water spout fifteen feet above the surface of the pond. Marina flew out of the pond at an angle and slammed into the side of her villa with enough force to crack the wall behind her.

I shot towards her atop my water spout, my trident held out in front of me. Marina seemed dazed, but she held onto enough sense to roll out of the way just in time. The trident impaled the side of the house and got stuck.

The trident stopped glowing, and I dropped out of super-hero mode. I tried to yank my weapon out of the side of the house, but it was no good. It was stuck, and I didn't have the strength to pull it out. "Oh come on!" I yelled.

A bare foot collided with my side. I stumbled over, losing my grip on my weapon. Marina was stumbling towards me. She didn't look very good. Her head was bleeding badly. Yet, she still held her weapon. I did not. She flew into a reckless assault. I jumped back, dipping, diving, and rolling to avoid her weapon. "I'm going to kill you!" she screamed. Her speech was slurred. No doubt she had a concussion.

"Please," I begged. "It's over Marina. Neither of us can keep going."

"You can't keep going!" she roared. "I can! I've never felt better!" She laughed again, but it was different than her other ones. Her previous ones had been cocky, bragging laughs. Her new laugh was higher and deranged. Her swings were erratic. As she kept going they got easier to dodge. I had to disarm her, but I had no weapon, and no way to get close without getting butchered. Despite her sloppy form, her sword was still plenty sharp, and she was putting more than enough force behind her attacks to easily slice me to mincemeat. I needed my trident back. In this state, I could no doubt outmatch her. I was tired, yeah, but she was completely out of it. If I had my weapon, I could disarm her and either force her to surrender or knock her out.

My opening arrived. Her stance was too wide. She struck downwards at me. I rolled underneath the strike, between her legs, and dove for my trident. I tugged hard on the shaft. Meanwhile, Marina stumbled. She turned and found me. She charged, her sword high over her head.

"Come on, come on," I muttered as I pulled on my trident. Finally, I pulled it free. I whirled around, intending to block Marina's strike. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. I don't know whether I misjudged my positioning, or if she was just so out of it that she was unable to move her sword with the right speed.

Whatever the case, Marina ran straight into my trident with such force that the points pierced her breastplate and went all the way through her, the ends emerging from her back. The butt of the trident dug into the ground by about an inch. I kneeled there, in horror, my mouth gaping.

Marina looked down at her chest in surprise, then back at me, her own mouth gaping, and bloody. She coughed once, blood spattering my face. Then her eyes glazed over. She was gone.

My breath caught. I'd… I'd killed her. I let go of my trident. Marina fell over sideways, the trident still sticking out of her. I backed away in shock, trembling. I'd killed another human being. Killing the monopods had been horrible, but at least they'd been monsters. They had burst into powder and were gone. They'd be reborn eventually. Marina… well, she was mortal. Her body just lay there, motionless. And there was no coming back for her. She was gone for good.

It was too much for me. My stomach lurched, and I puked up everything in my stomach. I heaved again and again until there was nothing left to come up. At some point during my puking I'd fallen to my knees. "Oh gods," I said aloud. "Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. What have I done?"

I had never meant to kill her. I hadn't wanted that. Tears stung my eyes, but I wasn't sure whether I was crying about what I'd just done, or if I was crying because I was just glad that it hadn't been me. I was relieved to be alive. But how could I feel that way? I had just murdered another human being! Did it matter that it was in self-defense? _No_ , I thought. _It doesn't matter to me_.

And yet I kept returning to the same thought, which just made me feel more guilty: _Thank gods I'm alive. Thank gods it wasn't me_.

The sounds coming from inside the villa were getting louder, like the fight inside was moving closer to the front door, but I couldn't focus on them, I was too horrified but what had just happened. There was a crash of wood behind, as if the front door had been kicked open. A familiar voice yelled out, "Elizabeth! Elizabeth! What's wrong? Are you… oh." I turned slightly as the source of the voice got close to me. It was Gus. His brown hair was wild. He was nicked with cuts all over, but he seemed to be alright. He looked between me and the corpse of Marina, piecing together what happened. I thought he'd yell at me. How dare I kill another human being.

Instead, he walked over to Marina's body and grabbed my trident. With a sickening squelch, he yanked Marianas out of her body. If I had had anything left in my stomach, I would have thrown up all over again. He walked back over to me and pulled me to my feet with his left hand. He pressed my weapon back into my right hand. I looked at it in disgust, then back at him. "I don't want –"

"I know," he said tenderly, but there was also a sense of urgency in his voice. "But the fight isn't over yet. We still have to get out of here. And I could really use your help Elizabeth."

Just then, Jake emerged from the door as well, Alex de Marco thrown over his shoulder, apparently unconscious. Alex looked terrible. He was bloody and purple with bruises that seemed to cover every bit of his exposed flesh. His normally golden blond hair was paler than usual, same as his skin. He looked much thinner than I remembered him being. Jake looked about the same as Augustus; battered a little, but overall fine. He was swinging his hammer with as much force as he could muster as he backed towards us. Following him out of the door was a horde of dracaenae. "A little help here!" Jake yelled.

Nearby, a couple windows shattered and several mortal soldiers like the ones Marcus had had with him jumped out. Gus looked at me, a plea in his eyes. They still needed my help. I set my jaw. There would be time for guilt later. Right now my friends needed me. I switched back to sword mode. "Okay, what's the plan."

Gus threw a thumb over his shoulder. "Get to the garage. Steal a car. Get out as fast as humanly possible."

I nodded. Together we charged over to Jake and began slashing at the dracaenae. We backed up slowly, destroying monsters and knocking out the mortal warriors as we retreated towards the garage. I tried not to look as we moved past Marina's body.

"They killed her!" one of the soldiers said. "They killed Marina! Death to the demigod scum!"

I was too upset to even correct them. I just focused on my sword and the monsters in front of me and tried to block out everything else. After what felt like ages we were able to thin out the crowd of enemies enough to make a full on sprint for the garage. We dashed across the grass. We were halfway to the garage before any of our opponents were smart enough to get a bow and some arrows.

We slammed against the garage door. Gus took Alex from Jake, who pulled out his phone and placed it against the garage's electronic lock. After a couple of seconds, he had hacked in. The door opened. We dove under it as soon as it was high enough to crouch under. The dracaenae following us had almost closed the distance.

Jake yanked open the driver's door of a Hummer, which I didn't even know were still made. Gus threw Alex into the passenger's side seat, then turned and used a huge gust of wind to blast enemies away from the now fully-open garage door. Behind us, the Hummer's engine roared to life. Gus yanked open a back door and ushered me in. I leaped into the seat, and he was quick to follow, slamming the door behind him.

"Good thing the idiots kept the keys in the car," Jake yelled. Alex was still out cold, but I guess Jake had buckled him in. He slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and we roared out of the garage. We bowled over several dracaena that tried to get in our way, sending dust flying over the windshield.

"How exactly are we going to get through that metal gate?" Gus yelled. Then he turned to me and said sharply, "Buckle up!"

I scowled but did as he said. Meanwhile, Jake responded, "We're driving straight through it. Why do you think I picked the Hummer?"

We continued to roar down the lane towards the metal gate. Two guards stood directly in front of the gate, each holding a rifle. They shot at us. The windshield cracked under the bullet impacts, but it didn't shatter. We were coming up fast on the gate. At the last second, the two guards leaped out of the way as we barreled straight into the gate. There was a terrible noise as the gate was wrenched out of the wall around it by the force of the impact. Our car shook violently.

We sped off down the road. After about an hour of obsessively checking to see if we were being followed, Jake and Gus finally decided we were in the clear. "We did it, guys," Gus panted. "Good job. We finished our quest."

I let out a deep breath. It was over.

Tears stung my eyes. Yes, it was over. And I was now a killer.

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 **AN: And we're done for today! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you guys on Saturday with chapter 19!**


	19. Chapter 19: I Find Out About That Pain

**AN: Hey guys! As always, I want to thank everyone for the support I've received over the course of the series. I really appreciate it. There's only going to be one, maybe two more chapters after this one, depending on how much I want to cram into one chapter. So thanks for sticking with me for this whole story!**

 **Okay, that's enough from me. Here's chapter 19. Enjoy. DFTBA!**

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Chapter 19: I Find Out About That Pain Thing Poseidon Mentioned

The drive back was uneventful. We didn't run into any monsters and according to Jake if we kept up a good pace we'd be able to get back in just a day and a half. The car ride was quiet because two of us weren't speaking: myself and Alex de Marco. After Alex had regained consciousness the first thing he'd done was scream. After Jake and Augustus had assured him that he was safe and that we were taking him back to camp, he immediately fell silent. Gus and Jake tried a couple of times to get him to talk: they asked him questions about his quest, what Marina had done, what his prophecy was, but Alex wouldn't say a word. It was quite unlike the Alex I remembered. The Alex I remembered was loud and cocky and always had to put in his two cents. We didn't get along. But whatever happened to him at Marina's compound had clearly changed that. After a little while Jake and Gus gave up trying to get him to talk.

Gus didn't give up on trying to get me to talk, though. Whether it was just as we were driving, in the restaurants where we stopped to eat, or even at the motel where we stopped to sleep, Gus just wouldn't give up. He tried all sorts of topics: our siblings, the Superman vs. Batman fight we always had, speculation about Gaius, but I wouldn't budge.

He just didn't get it. I had done something horrible. I had killed another human being. What was wrong with me? I didn't deserve to be around other people. I had committed a terrible crime. A small part of me tried to argue that it had been an accident and self-defense. But honestly it didn't really matter to the rest of me. Whatever the circumstance, I had ended another person's life. There was no way to reverse that. Nothing I could do could change what had happened.

It wasn't until we were on the highway that led directly back to Long Island that Gus finally managed to get me to speak. We were in four lanes of bumper to bumper traffic flying along at sixty miles an hour. I was impressed by Jake's driving, but of course I didn't say anything about it. Instead, I just stared out the window.

In the seat next to me, Gus sighed. "Look, Elizabeth, we're almost back to camp. Are you ever going to speak again?" I remained silent. "I understand why you're upset, but you've got to understand that sometimes people die."

I snapped around to face him. "You don't get it," I finally spoke. " _I_ killed her. She didn't just die. I did it. It's my fault. I'm… I'm a terrible person!"

"No you're not," Gus said. "Elizabeth, you're one of the best people I know! I can't stand that you're blaming yourself for this."

"But I'm the one who did it," I countered.

"You did what you had to do," Gus replied. "Marina was a nasty person who was trying to kill you. You did what you had to do to survive. That doesn't make you a bad person, and it won't do anyone any good for you to dwell on this for the rest of your life!"

"It does make me a terrible person," I insisted. "And anyway –" Gus cut me off by grabbing my face and kissing me full on the lips. Augustus Grace was kissing me. _And I was enjoying it_. Gods of Olympus, something was wrong with me.

He pulled back, blushing hard. "You're not a terrible person," he repeated.

I blinked, my face hot. "You… you just kissed me."

Gus blushed even harder. "Yeah, sorry about that. I just –" It was my turn to shut him up by kissing him.

"It's about time!" Jake shouted.

Gus and I separated, blushing and chuckling weakly. It was amazing how quickly everything could change. I still felt bad about what had happened with Marina, but Gus was right. Dwelling on it would do no good. There were people who cared about me, and cutting them out just because I thought I was a bad person was stupid.

"Thank you," I said softly to Gus.

"For what?" he asked.

Before I could answer, Jake yelled, "SHIT!"

My head snapped around. Five cars in front of us, a huge tractor trailer had suddenly turned, instantly blocking all four lanes of traffic. Tires squealed, horns honked. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The cars in front of us came to an abrupt stop, crumpling from impacting the vehicles around them. We slammed into the car in front of us with such force the front of our car became indistinguishable from the back of theirs. The air bags deployed in the front. Then, a split second after we collided with the car in front, the car behind us rear-ended us. The back of our car crumpled behind Gus and I. We were thrown forward. Our seatbelts locked into place, and I gasped in pain. That was going to leave a massive bruise. Simultaneously the windows and windshield all burst apart in a starburst of glass.

Suddenly we were still. Dazed, I peeled my head off the headrest in front of me. Next to me, Gus was doing the same. A ringing sound filled my ears, blocking out all other noise. In the front seat the airbags had deflated enough for Jake to climb out through the broken windshield. He helped Alex out, whose mouth was moving. I guess he'd decided to start speaking again, though I couldn't hear what he was saying.

Gus had unbuckled himself and grabbed his sword. He grabbed my arm. His mouth moved, forming what I thought were the words "Are you okay?" I nodded and unbuckled, grabbing my own sword and following Gus out the front of the car. I climbed to my feet atop the crumpled hood of our car and strapped my scabbard around my waist. I drew Marianas as I looked around.

The pile up went back as far as I could see. Other people were doing the same thing as us, climbing out of their cars through broken windshields and windows. However, most of them began running away.

Slowly, my hearing began to come back. The first sound I heard were people screaming all around us. Next, I heard horns blaring in every direction. Finally, the voices of my friends (and Alex) came into focus. "– everyone okay?" Jake was asking.

"Little dazed, but alright," Gus answered.

"We need to get out of here," Alex said. " _Right now_. That was no accident. That truck did that on purpose."

I looked ahead of us. The side of the truck where the first row of cars had slammed into it was a bit dented, but otherwise it was pristine. It made me uneasy. "As much as I hate to agree with Alex," I said, "he's right. We've gotta go."

"Too late," Gus said, pointing. A side door on the truck's trailer opened. Ten people jumped out, wearing the same combo of Greek armor and modern combat fatigues as the soldiers with Marcus and at Marina's house, except these guys had helmets. Jake and Gus readied their weapons. I raised my own sword.

The soldiers spread out over the roofs of cars, facing us. They left a small gap in the center of their line. Two more figures emerged from the truck, jumping down in the line's gap. As soon as they landed on the roof of the car in front of them, the troops snapped to attention, levelling spears in our direction. One of the two figures was dressed the same way as the others, except his helmet had a horsehair Mohawk, dyed gold, and a sword rather than a spear.

The other figure was dressed a bit differently. He wore khaki pants and a white buttoned shirt. Around his waist hung a sword, rather longer than average. He didn't wear any helmet. His face was left in full view. Golden eyes glinted as they locked with my own. His sandy hair was cut short. The last I'd seen him had been in a dream, and he'd been a child then. Now, a fully adult Gaius stood before me.

He looked around at all the mortals still in the area. Most had already left, running from the scene of the wreckage. But there were still several nearby, looking at the spectacle in front of them, confused. Gaius snapped his fingers, and a gust of wind rolled through the area. "This matter does not concern you mortals. Be gone." Instantly, the remaining mortals cleared out. Then he turned and smiled at me. "Hey, Elizabeth," he greeted me, as if we were old friends.

"Gaius," I growled.

"That's the son of Kronos?" Gus asked.

"Indeed I am," he said with a nod. "And you must be Augustus Grace. It's a pleasure to meet another child of the Seven."

"Wait, son of Kronos?" Alex asked. Oh yeah, we never told him about that. Gaius either didn't hear him or ignored him. Instead, he turned his attention back to me.

"So you figured out who my father was, eh?" he said. "Well done, I knew you were smart." I didn't respond. Gaius chuckled shortly. "Ah yes, defiant silence. How very predictable, Elizabeth. I see you and your friends saved Alex de Marco. Good work." He clapped briefly, but I thought I saw anger flash across his face for a split second. Then it was gone, replaced by the confident smirk he normally wore.

He glanced over at Jake. "Now you I don't recognize. What's your name, young man?"

"Jake," he answered shortly.

"Well I am happy to meet you, Jake," Gaius said. "Any friend of Elizabeth's is a friend of mine."

"How'd you find us?" Gus asked.

I smacked my forehead. Of course. "The car," I said. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."

Gaius laughed. "Perceptive as usual, Elizabeth. Yes, all the cars owned by my organization have tracking chips. So when I heard you'd made your getaway in one of our cars, well… it was all too easy to follow you."

"But why?" I asked. "Why are you here?"

"Well it certainly isn't because of him," Gaius laughed, pointing at Alex. "I already got everything I needed out of him." At those words, Alex recoiled slightly. "No," Gaius continued, "I'm all done with him."

"What did you want with Alex in the first place?" Jake asked.

"You haven't told them?" Gaius asked Alex, amused. Alex flinched again. Gaius laughed. "I see! Allow me to enlighten you, then." Finally some answers. Running into Gaius was the absolute last thing I had wanted, but at least I could count on him monologue-ing about his plan. "You see, Alex's mother had the Sight. She could see through the Mist, but more than that, she had a bit of a gift of prophecy. Unfortunately, she died years ago. Fortunately for me, Alex heard some of her prophecies."

"The man tortured me," Alex said quietly. "He tortured me until I told him everything I remembered about my mom's prophecies."

"The man?" I asked. Alex just shook his head.

"Please, allow me to clear that up," Gaius said. "Alex was being held in Marina's compound, but one of my other compatriots was put in charge of extracting the information out of him."

"So you're after a prophecy?" Jake asked.

"But I thought you already knew the one about you and me?" I said. "Or were you just talking big last summer?"

"Oh no, I know the prophecy about us," Gaius assured me. "No, I'm after a different prophecy. See, my plan relies on two prophecies: the one about us and another one. One that's gone from the records. A missing prophecy, if you will. I have good reason to believe that this particular prophecy was told centuries ago, but the content is so dangerous to the gods that they've done their best to eradicate every copy of it. I have only come across the smallest fragments of the prophecy. I need the whole thing. But the thing about prophecies is that you can't avoid them, and you can't hide them forever. The prophecy I'm after is bound to resurface."

"So you've been tracking down people with the gift of prophecy in the hopes that one of them knows the information you need," I said.

"Precisely," Gaius said. "Unfortunately, Alex's mother didn't speak of the prophecy I need around him. But Alex was able to provide us with the location and the key to a safety deposit box, in which there is a book where his mother kept notes on all the prophetic glimpses she had."

"If you got what you needed from Alex, why'd you have your lackey send us a ransom message?" Gus asked.

Gaius's face suddenly contorted with anger. "Marina was not a lackey!" he shouted, abandoning his cool. So that was it. He was angry Marina was dead. Which meant he was angry at me. _Shit_. "I may be the boss of our organization, but she was one of my close friends until _you,_ " he pointed at me, "killed her. I saw the security footage." Gaius took a deep calming breath. When he spoke again it was with forced calm. "As for why I ransomed off Alex, well I needed to test my new broadcast equipment, and why not trade something that's run out of use for something that could help me?"

"You're here for revenge, aren't you?" I said. "For killing her."

Gaius forced his cocky smirk back in place. "Yes."

"But you… you don't want to kill me?" I said uncertainly.

"Oh heavens no," Gaius said. "Kill you now? Before my plan has come to fruition? Before our fated battle? No, I don't want to kill you, Elizabeth. But there are ways for me to punish you without killing you. I can injure you without killing. I can cause you terrible pain." Oh great. Poseidon's warning flashed into my head, _In the near future, you will suffer great personal pain_. It looked like I was about to find out exactly what that entailed.

"You're not going to touch her!" Gus snapped, stepping forward and pointing his sword at Gaius.

Gaius laughed cruelly. "Oh and the grandson of Aphrodite speaks, and, if I may say so, ever so predictably. You love her, don't you?"

"Well, I don't –"

Gaius cut him off. "You should know that while I would restrain myself against Elizabeth, I would do no such thing against you. I have no problem killing you. You are not important to me or my plans."

"Gus," I said, putting a hand on his arm. "Please, let me." Gus looked me in the eyes for a moment, but he backed down.

Gaius smiled at me. "Excellent as usual, Elizabeth. Flexing your leadership muscles. I have no doubt those will serve you well in the coming war."

"War?" Jake asked.

"Why yes," Gaius said. "I'd have thought that was pretty obvious. My army versus you insignificant demigods," he glanced at me, "and legacies, of course."

"I thought the gods were your target?" Jake asked. "Aren't they the ones you want to destroy?"

"Yes, that is my goal," Gaius said. "But your pitiful camps will no doubt rise up in the gods' defense. And even if you didn't of your own free will, you're the ones the gods call on to do their dirty work. The gods are nothing without you heroes to do their bidding. And at any rate, if I declared war on the gods directly, that would give them free reign to attack me outright. No, I want to be nice and ready before I move against the gods directly."

"You keeping talking about demigods like none of you are," Gus said. "But you've got eleven demigods with you now."

"They're not demigods," I said darkly. I had no doubt that my guess was right. "They're demititans. All of them."

Gus and Jake looked at me, their mouths hanging open. Gaius laughed. "Excellent, Elizabeth! You are correct. There is not a single demigod in my army. My soldiers are either monsters or demititans. Take Ivan, here," he indicated the man with the horsehair Mohawk. "Ivan is a son of Koios, and head of my personal guard."

"How?" Gus asked. "How are there so many demititans?"

"Well it's quite simple really," Gaius said. "Many titans were never imprisoned after the war with the gods, either because they went into hiding afterwards, remained neutral, or even fought alongside the gods. Those titans have been perfectly free to have children with mortals, but is there a place for them at Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter? Of course not. Hundreds of demititans have grown up alone on the streets. My army has given them a home and a purpose." _Hundreds_ of demititans? His army was a lot bigger than I'd realized.

"As for those of us whose titanic parent was imprisoned after the war, well… we're all older than the end of the war. While those titans were free to roam, some of them had children. Take me, for instance. The Titan War celebrates its twenty-sixth anniversary in August. I just turned twenty-six at the beginning of this month. Happy Birthday to me.

"But dear me, I've rambled on quite too long," Gaius said. "Ivan, you and your troops may engage the enemy, but leave the girl to me. You have permission to use lethal force."

"Yes sir," Ivan said, his voice high and brittle. He raised his arm and made a fist. The ten demititan soldiers charged my friends who fell back quickly. I half-turned to try and help them, but Gaius recaptured my attention as I heard his sword scrape against its sheath as he pulled it out.

I focused back on him. His sword rather reminded me of Luke's. Like his father's sword, his was half celestial bronze, half mortal steel. "And now, Elizabeth, it is time for you to get a preview of the battle to come."

I levelled my own sword at him. "Before we begin, I want you to know that Marina was trying to kill me. Your 'friends' aren't so fond of your obsession with keeping me alive."

Gaius scowled. "I will deal with that myself. But enough talk, Elizabeth. Let's dance."

I set my jaw. "Fine."

I dashed forward, my boots making a strange clanking sound against the roofs of cars as I moved. Gaius waited lazily for me. I feinted to the left, then struck from the right, but Gaius saw the move coming. He easily blocked my attack. "A feint," he said. "How predictable."

He switched to offense, his sword whirling through the air at high speed. I fell back under his onslaught of blows, concentrating with all my might to match his speed and intensity. He went for an overhanded blow. I dodged to the side and tried to stab him, but Gaius predicted the attack once again and blocked the stab with his sword's pommel. "Come now," he chided, "I thought you'd be better than this."

He kicked me with the side of his foot. There wasn't a lot of force behind it, but it was enough to make me lose my balance and fall into the gap between cars. He leaped down into the gap, swinging his sword downwards as he went. I scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid getting my legs chopped off. I retreated between the cars, Gaius following. Our sword play was limited by the narrow space, but we traded a few blows with the tips of our swords.

More than once I plowed through side-view mirrors, no doubt leaving my back bruised to match my bruised chest from the seat belt. Suddenly, I ran into the front of a car. Apparently some driver had tried to swerve out of the way, but just ended up blocking the way. I quickly jumped onto the hood of the car, giving me the high ground against Gaius. I delivered several blows against him, but he blocked all the strikes fluidly. "Trying to take advantage of the high ground," he remarked. "Not bad. But not nearly good enough." He jumped up, too, forcing me to step back onto the car's windshield.

I continued to fall back, step by step under his ferocious sword strikes. As we fought across the roofs of cars, I caught brief glimpses of my friends fighting for their lives. Gus was facing off against Ivan personally in addition to two other demititans. Jake was doing fine work with his hammer, keeping his opponents' spears at bay. Occasionally, he would even use the cars to his advantage, kicking open hoods in their faces, breaking windshields that his opponents were standing on. At some point Alex had gotten his hands on a spear, and despite his injured and emaciated form, he was surviving, though barely.

Meanwhile, Gaius continued to push me hard, all the while throwing out critiques of my fighting style. "Now, now, Elizabeth, you want to use both hands for an attack like that." "Oh, dear me, that was a rookie mistake, my friend." "Elizabeth, what's the point if you aren't even going to make things interesting?"

"I thought you wanted to hurt me, not give me pointers about sword-fighting," I grunted, annoyed and well aware of just how outmatched I was. I thought I'd been outmatched against Marina, but she'd been trying to kill me. Gaius fought lazily and with restraint. If he was this good, how could I expect to beat him in our future fight?

"Oh, I do want to hurt you," he said. "But why not use the opportunity to give you pointers? After all, I want our final fight to be interesting. That's why I tested you last summer."

Our sword sparked against each other, and I pushed hard, forcing our blades to lock. "Then give me my test results," I growled. "Because I'm sick and tired of your games."

Gaius sneered. "Fine. You want your results? You want my analysis?" He pushed harder against my sword, and I was forced to take a half-step back. "You're not bad Elizabeth. But you're predictable. And that will be your downfall. When you fight, you fight by established sword-fight etiquette. Sure, you'll throw in a kick occasionally, but you don't play dirty. That's your problem, Elizabeth. You don't play dirty."

Suddenly he spat in my face. I yelped, shutting my eyes reflexively, but not nearly soon enough. His saliva got in my eyes, stinging and blinding me. The pressure of his sword against mine was gone. I stumbled forward a half step, still blind, and raised my sword. Then there was a sickening _fwip_ sound, and a thud as something heavy hit the roof of the car next to my right foot. My arm felt strange. I couldn't feel anything below the elbow anymore, and at the elbow, I felt heat.

Someone was screaming, but I wasn't sure who. It sounded like a girl though. Wait, _I_ was the one screaming. My knees buckled. I still couldn't see. The noise around me faded, replaced by my own scream. By why was I screaming? I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was that I was losing consciousness. My entire right side felt warm and wet, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was in my head. The wind around me picked up very suddenly, stronger wind than I'd ever felt in my life. But I was fading… fading…

* * *

 **AN: Oh... you guys thought that the action ended last chapter... sorry about that. Haha, cliffhanger time! I'll see you guys with chapter 20 on Tuesday, and I'll let you guys know if there will be a chapter 21 then.**


	20. Chapter 20: My Emotions Are Confusing

**AN: Oh hey guys. I'm back. And I see that last chapter prompted quite the response, hahaha! Well here is chapter 20. It's quite a long one, and it's the last of book 2. Thank you all so much for supporting me over the course of this book and this series. I really appreciate all of the support that I've gotten.**

 **Tomorrow, I will post an update Author's note including a tentative release date for book 3, some select pieces of information for book 3, and information on some other things as well. So keep your eyes open for that!**

 **Alright, on with the chapter. Enjoy the last chapter of Elizabeth Jackson and the Missing Prophecy! DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 20: My Emotions Are Confusing

My dreams were confusing and constantly shifted. First I was in a crowded room full of bunk beds, and there was young Gaius. Then Gaius was peering out an open window in the same room, some time later, a backpack over his shoulder. The dream spun all around me, and Gaius was standing in an alley, holding a piece of broken glass at a girl who was about the same age as him. She had Auburn hair and bright yellow eyes, only a shade off of Gaius's. "It's okay," she said. "I'm like you."

"No one's like me," Gaius said.

"I am," she insisted. "My father was Hyperion, titan of the East. Who was you father?"

Gaius looked at her uncertainly, but lowered his shard of glass. "Kronos. Kronos was my father."

"My name is Eliana," the girl said, holding out her hand. "What's yours?"

Gaius held out his own hand. "Lukas, but I hate that name."

"Then pick a new one," Eliana said.

The dream spun again, and I was in a library, clearly a few years later. Gaius was a teenager, for one. He was pouring over mythology textbooks. Eliana came around the corner of a bookshelf. "I'm not finding anything in these books," she said. "Are you sure your dream was right?"

"I'm positive," Gaius said, the abrupt shift from hearing him as a child and hearing him as a teenager catching me off guard. "My dreams have never been wrong before. This is a way to destroy the gods."

The dream spun again, flashing forward. Suddenly we were in Central Park. I recognized it immediately. I spent a lot of time exploring Central Park. Gaius and Eliana were standing in the shade of a tree, about eighteen years old. Gaius was staring at the top of a hill, a disturbing look on his face. Eliana was staring at Gaius, almost hungrily. "That's them," Gaius said. "The Jacksons."

I started and looked up at the hill. Sure enough my family was at the top. There were Mom and Dad sitting on a blanket, watching two children chasing each other around. _Me and Matt_ , I realized. I looked about six. Little me laughed joyfully as Matt and I ran after each other. "The girl," Gaius said. "She's the one." Gaius had been watching me since I was a little kid? If that wasn't creepy, I didn't know what was.

Eliana sighed. "She's six."

"She won't be six forever," Gaius said. "And I'm sure it's her."

"So what if it's her?" Eliana asked. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

Gaius looked at Eliana. "Never you mind."

The dream spun again, and suddenly I was back in the dark conference room I'd dreamed about last year. Gaius, about twenty, was standing while everyone else was seated. I recognized them from my previous dream. Marcus was there, and so was Marina. I felt a twinge of guilt when I saw her. The albino twins were present, too, and Eliana and the big guy, Drake. "Thank you all for all your hard work these last two years," Gaius said. "This fortress is the pinnacle of our achievements together. And now, we'll move forward. Now we'll destroy the gods."

My dream spun around again, and I was outside Marina's villa. This was a lot more recent. I could tell because Marina was lying dead on the ground. Gaius stood over her, frowning, his face contorted with rage and grief. Marcus jogged up behind him. "Sir," he said, "we've finished clearing the house of all valuables, files, and computers. The charges have been set."

Gaius nodded. "Very well, Marcus. Let's move out and blow the place."

Marcus seemed to hesitate for just a moment before he said, "Sir, I know you aren't going to want to hear this, but…"

"Spit it out," Gaius said shortly.

"Demititan blood is just as potent as demigod blood," Marcus said. "Marina's only been dead one day. Her blood still has plenty of magic in it. If we brought her body back to the twins…"

"And allow them to desecrate her body?" Gaius snapped. "I don't think so."

"Sir, I know you're distraught over her death," Marcus said gingerly, "but you must think logically. The twins need this blood for their magic. Marina will not have died in vain…"

"Shut up," Gaius said lowly. "She died disobeying my orders, Marcus. Just as you have done. Did you not think I would find out about your little trip to the Canadian border? Your attempt to execute Elizabeth Jackson?"

"Sir, allow me to explain –"

Gaius spun around to face Marcus. "Silence!" he spat. "You have disobeyed me. That is treason." Marcus gulped. "Luckily, I cannot afford to lose another council member, but you've been warned, Marcus. Load up Marina's body and deliver her to the twins. You're at least right that the twins need blood for their magic."

Marcus bowed his head, his face pale. "Yes sir."

Gaius stormed off, towards a nearby fleet of black SUVs. Eliana emerged from inside the villa, smirking at Marcus. She shouldered him roughly as she passed. Marcus glared after her as she jogged to catch up with Gaius.

* * *

My eyes flicked open and I groaned. I was lying in a soft bed, but I wasn't able to take in anything else before a familiar voice cried, "Percy, she's awake!" And suddenly my vision was obscured as two people wrapped me in the tightest hug I'd ever received.

"Give her room," another voice said. The two people hugging me back up a bit. It was my parents. Both of them had bloodshot eyes and messy hair, like they hadn't slept in days, or they'd been crying, or both. I looked around the room, still disoriented. The voice that had told my parents to give me space belonged to a tall, lithe man with long, wavy blond hair. He wore a lab coat like a doctor.

"Will?" I asked, my voice coming out as a croak.

Will Solace nodded at me, smiling. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Confused," I said. I looked at my parents. "Why are you guys here? Where is here?"

"The Big House, back at camp," said another voice at the foot of my bed. I tried to sit up, but Dad put his hand on my shoulder. I shot him a confused look, then I glanced down and saw Chiron, sitting in his wheelchair. I looked around and recognized other things: the windows, the white linen sheets covering me.

"Physically, how do you feel?" Will asked.

I ran a quick mental check. "Fine, I guess. A bit… I dunno, weak. Also, I can't feel my right arm. What's that about?" I raised my arm.

"Wait, Elizabeth," Dad said.

My arm emerged from underneath the blanket. Or rather what was left of it. I stared, open-mouth, at my right arm, which ended abruptly just above where my elbow should have been. The stump was wrapped tightly in gauze. "No," I whispered. "No no no no no no no no no… What… what happened?"

Chiron, my parents, and Will all glanced at each other. Dad cleared his throat and took a seat at the edge of my bed. "From what Augustus told us, you were in a fight with Gaius and he uh… cut off your arm." The memory flashed into my head. Gaius had spat in my face and then…

"Unfortunately, I was not able to reattach your arm," Will said. "The cut was made with celestial bronze, which not only severs the flesh, but also severs the soul."

"How'd I get back here?" I asked in a flat voice.

"After Gaius cut off the lower part of your arm, Augustus got really angry and set off a massive windstorm," Mom said. He drove off Gaius and his people, then flew you back here.

I nodded. "I see." I felt numb. Still, I forced a smile, "Well I guess I'll have to learn to fight with my left hand, eh?"

"Elizabeth, it's okay to be upset," Dad said. "You don't have to act tough."

"No, I feel fine," I said. I sat up and rolled out of bed. My legs felt weak, but I managed to stay on my feet. "I'd better go start practicing. Where's my sword?"

"Elizabeth," Mom protested. "You need to lie back down."

"No, really," I said, forcing a smile on my face. "I'm fine. Thanks for stopping by, Mom and Dad. I'll see you guys later." I dashed out the door. As soon as the door opened, a whole group of people sitting on the porch stood up, as if they'd been waiting for me: Jake, Theo, Jocelyn, Katherine, Mike, and Gus.

"Elizabeth," Gus said, "are you –"

"Oh hey, everyone," I said. I went to raise my right hand in greeting, realized that I didn't have one, and raised my left hand instead. "Do any of you know where my sword is?"

"In your cabin," Theo said.

Jocelyn elbowed him harshly. "How are you?" she asked. "I know you're probably –"

"I'm fine," I said quickly. "Really, I'm fine. I'll see you guys later."

I pushed past them all. Someone tried to stop me by grabbing my shoulder, but I shrugged them off and raced down the hill towards the cabins. As I ran past, several campers stared at me, whispering. _Making fun of the cripple, no doubt_ , I thought bitterly, but I shoved the thought to the back of my mind. I was fine. I was. I was completely a-okay.

I reached my cabin and shoved open the door. I let it slam shut behind me. I glanced around the familiar cabin. My bed was perfectly made, and sitting atop the covers was my sword. I made my way over and picked it up in my left hand. I shook it slightly to try and take off the sheath. It wouldn't budge. I shook harder, still the sword refused to come out of its sheath. I growled. "Come on!" I shook as hard as I could, but the sheath stayed on the blade. I raised the sword and gripped the sheath with my teeth and pulled on my sword. Not my best idea. The sword failed to come loose. All that happened was the sheath ground against my teeth. The entire thing was yanked out. I cried out in pain. A bit of tooth fell to the floor.

I cried out in frustration and pain and toss aside my sword. I sat down hard on my bed, panting. I dabbed at my mouth with my one hand. When I pulled it away, it was bloody. Great, just great. I took several deep breaths. "I'm fine," I muttered. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. I'm fine."

There was a knock, and then the door of the cabin opened. I glanced up. It was my father. I hadn't really taken in his full appearance up at the Big House. He'd let his hair grow out a bit over the past couple weeks. He looked absolutely exhausted, and when he locked eyes with me, I could see worry etched all over his face. I plastered a smile on my face. "Hey, Dad," I said.

Dad gave me a small smile. "Hey," he said. "Wow, being back in this place gives me memories…" He walked over towards my bed. He glanced above the bunk where his old Minotaur horn hung on the wall. "Boy, the Minotaur. Haven't thought about ol' beef head in years. First monster I ever defeated."

"Yeah," I said flatly. "You've told me the story."

"Well did I ever tell you that the Minotaur made me late for your mother and my wedding?" he asked.

I glanced up, slightly surprised. " _That's_ what Mom keeps giving you a hard time about?"

Dad chuckled and sat down next to me on the bed. "That's right. We'd just moved back to New York after college. We were having the wedding in Central Park. And wouldn't you know it, I was on my way when the Minotaur showed up. I defeated him, but of course my tux was ruined. Luckily my amazing friends helped me out of that tight spot. Nico came and shadow travelled me there, Pipes had an extra tux for me, and after that the wedding went off without a hitch." I laughed weakly. Dad frowned at me. "You know, Elizabeth, it's alright to admit you're not okay."

"What do you mean?" I said. "I'm fine!"

"Elizabeth," he said, "I know when you're lying. But you aren't lying to me. You're lying to yourself. You have to accept what's happened if you're ever going to move on."

Finally I snapped. "How am I ever going to move on?! I have one arm, Dad, in case you didn't notice! I'm never going to be alright, and I'm never going to be the same! This is it, I'm useless now. What am I supposed to do with one arm for the rest of my life?"

Dad wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight. I wrapped my left arm around him, then went to do the same with my right arm, but I couldn't. Finally I burst into tears. I couldn't hug my Dad anymore. Dad rubbed my back. I felt something wet on top of my head and realized that Dad was silently crying as well.

* * *

I didn't do much the next few days. I just lay in my bunk, staring at the ceiling, completely uncaring. Mike and Katherine tried to get me to open up a few times, but they couldn't get anywhere. I didn't even leave the cabin for meals. After the first couple of days, Mike and Katherine would bring me back food from dinner. Usually I'd take two or three bites, then set the rest aside.

Theo and Jocelyn kept dropping by, too. The first time they came to visit, I was, as usual, lying in my bed. The door burst open, and Theo and Jocelyn strolled in. I glanced over at them from my bunk. "Oh hey guys," I said.

"What's the deal, Jackson?" Jocelyn asked. "You haven't answered any of my texts."

"Phone's dead," I said flatly.

"Then charge it," Jocelyn suggested, sitting on the bunk opposite me. Theo sat next to her.

I shrugged. "I'll get around to it."

Jocelyn's eye twitched. She was getting frustrated, I could tell, not that I really cared. Theo looked back and forth between us. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "So… the Romans are having their Feast of Fortuna in a few days," Theo said. "We didn't go last year, just because we were recovering from the quest. But do you want to go this year? You can see Sierra."

"No, I'm okay," I said. "You guys go. Have fun."

Theo and Jocelyn glanced at each other. "Naw, it's okay," Theo said. "Wouldn't wanna go without you."

"Alex de Marco finally talked," Jocelyn said. "Gave a full debriefing about his quest. The guy who tortured him was a big bald guy. He wanted to know about his mother's prophecies."

"Knew that part," I said shortly.

Jocelyn sighed in exasperation. "Well did you also know," she said, her southern accent acting up, "that Alex told us what _his_ prophecy was?"

I raised my eyebrows. "What did it say?"

"The Son of Zeus will travel alone / In a land beyond where the gods roam," Jocelyn started.

"Canada," I said. "And why he went alone. Go on."

"His mother's words forced to recall / A prophecy to make the gods fall," Theo added.

I nodded slightly. "He was tortured because Gaius is looking for a prophecy. Not the one about me and him, but another one, apparently. One that would mean the destruction of the gods. Are there any other lines? It doesn't quite sound complete."

"Without help die alone in a cage / And through death unleash the Heir's rage," Jocelyn finished quietly.

I looked away, staring back up at the ceiling. "So if we hadn't saved Alex, he would've died. And that second part… well Gaius is the _Heir_ to Time, and when I killed Marina, he got real mad. You know the result of that." I raised my stump arm.

"Elizabeth, listen," Theo started.

"Well thanks for stopping by, guys," I interrupted. "But I'd better get some rest."

Jocelyn jumped to her feet. "All you ever do is rest!" she snapped, her accent as thick as I'd ever heard it. "You can't wallow in self-pity for the rest of your life, and you can't shut us out! We're your friends, you know!"

I sat up, my face heating up. "You don't get to tell me how to live my life. Leave."

Jocelyn looked like she was about to yell at me again, but Theo put a hand on her shoulder. "Joce, that's enough. Let's go."

Jocelyn turned and stormed out of the cabin. Theo turned towards me awkwardly. "I'll see you later, Elizabeth."

* * *

Gus kept trying to visit me, too, but every time he stopped by I pretended to be asleep. I just couldn't face him. I didn't know what to feel anymore. After the kiss, I'd been elated, but that feeling had lasted all of two seconds before Gaius showed up. And now I was incomplete. Gus didn't deserve to be with someone like me.

"You know, the boy is crazy about you," Violet said. The head counselor of Aphrodite had come by to visit. Ostensibly, she was just stopping by to look for Mike, though I knew for a fact she knew where he was, and that wasn't here. She was one of many people who were stopping by in what I was calling the "Elizabeth pity party." People coming by to offer their condolences, people coming to tell me how sorry they were… I was sick of it. Still, Violet was doing better than the others. She, at least, was trying to talk about something else. "I cannot tell you how many times he's stopped by our cabin asking what he should do."

"Gus goes to the Aphrodite cabin?" I asked, very slightly amused.

Violet chuckled. "He's been coming by at least once a week since last year. He may have chosen the Zeus cabin, but he's pretty in tune with his Aphrodite side. We like having him over. Anyway, you shouldn't keep ignoring him."

I frowned. "He shouldn't want to be with me anymore. I'm not whole. I'm not worth his effort."

"Don't you think _he_ should decide if you're worth _his_ effort?" Violet asked.

* * *

I stayed in my cabin straight through the end of June. I didn't leave my cabin once. My wardrobe consisted of sweat pants and plain white t-shirts. I'd move around the cabin a bit every day, just to maintain some strength in my legs, but otherwise I'd just lay in my bed, watching TV shows on my phone. I didn't do much sleeping either: every time I did, I dreamt about Gaius cutting off my arm, and I'd wake up gasping for breath.

On July 4th the Romans came to visit, as they did every year, but I stayed inside my cabin. I knew at one point my brother or Sierra would come to visit, so I wasn't surprised when there was a knock at the door. "It's open," I called.

The door opened. I looked up, but I was surprised at who I saw. It wasn't my brother, and it wasn't Sierra. My visitor was a muscular Mexican-American dude with dark hair in a crew cut. Tony Perez, one of the Centurions at Camp Jupiter. "Centurion Tony Perez," I said in surprise.

"It's Praetor now, actually," Tony said. "It's good to see you again, Elizabeth."

I frowned again. Now that I'd gotten over my initial surprise at Tony's arrival, I realized that he was probably just there as part of the Elizabeth pity party. "Suppose you're here to express how sorry you are," I said darkly.

Tony shook his head. "Actually, that's not why I'm here. Although I am sorry that you got injured so badly. But no, my reason is different. I assume you know word has gotten out to everyone about Gaius?"

I raised my eyebrow. "It has? When?"

"Just a couple days ago," Tony said. "I thought you would have heard. But yeah, the truth is out now. Chiron told Camp Half-Blood and my co-praetor and I. We informed Camp Jupiter. Now we're officially at war against him and his demititans." That was why I hadn't heard. No one had visited me in the last couple days. They'd given up on getting me to engage in society again. "Anyway," Tony continued, "now that we're at war, our two camps are coordinating more than ever before. We're pooling resources. At first, some people panicked, at least at Camp Jupiter, but we were able to restore order. At any rate, that's not why I'm here. I'm here because of Alex de Marco. The description of the man that tortured him was given to us. The description matches someone I've met before."

"Really?" I asked.

Tony nodded. "You remember when we met at Las Vegas? I was on a quest then."

"Yeah, I remember," I said.

"I was tracking someone who'd stolen something important from Camp Jupiter," Tony explained. "When I caught up with him, he matched the description Alex gave us. Big bald guy, skin the color of very light coffee."

"Drake," I muttered. I looked up at Tony. "Last year I had a dream about Gaius's inner circle. That sounds like a guy Gaius called Drake. What did he steal from Camp Jupiter?"

"A copy of the Sibylline Books," Tony said. "Not complete copies, of course. We were never able to build complete copies."

"Of course!" I said. I jumped to my feet. "That explains it! Gaius is after a prophecy. I don't know what it's about, but he told me. He's after some kind of prophecy that's supposed to help him destroy the gods. He must have sent Drake to steal the book and find out if the prophecy he wanted was in there. And it fits with my dream, too!" I continued excitedly. "Drake told Gaius the information they were after was in the book, so he let you catch up with him!"

"I knew there was something fishy about that quest," Tony said. "Thanks Elizabeth!"

As quickly as my excitement at figuring something out arrived, it faded. I sat back down on my bunk, hard. It wasn't like there was anything I could do about Gaius, anyway. Not with my one arm. Tony walked towards me. "Hey, listen, you should come up to the dining pavilion. They're serving food soon, and Fourth of July food is always delicious."

"I'll just stay down here, thanks," I said.

"Elizabeth, you should really consider coming up," Tony said. "You're pretty awesome, you know. Staying down here doesn't do you a whole lot of good."

"I'm not going to force my presence upon everyone else," I grumbled. "And I don't want people whispering about me."

"I didn't realize you cared that much about what other people think," Tony said. "I know I don't know you well, but you always struck me as someone who doesn't really care what other people think. Or are you keeping yourself down here because you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself?" I gaped at Tony, unable to form words. Just as I was about to respond angrily, he turned away. "I'll see you later Elizabeth."

I sat there in my cabin, staring at the door. How dare he accuse me of feeling sorry for myself? I was staying down here so other people wouldn't have to deal with the one armed freak. _That's a lie and you know it_ , a small voice in my head said. _Tony was right, and so were Theo and Jocelyn. You've got to stop feeling sorry for yourself, because otherwise no one else will stop feeling sorry for you._

"Shut up, brain!" I shouted.

I lay back down on my bed and tried to go back to my apathetic state of mind, but my brain continued to be stubborn. Finally, I growled and rolled out of bed again. "Fine, will it make you happy if I go?" The voice inside my head answered, _It'd be a step_. Gods of Olympus, I was losing my mind. I was talking to myself. I grabbed a brush and quickly ran it through my hair, then awkwardly tried to put it in a ponytail, failed, screamed in frustration, and threw my brush down. "Well I'm not going. No way can I show my face in public with my hair such a disaster." _Stop making excuses. No one is going to care about your hair_. I growled. "Fine!" I went over to the sink and awkwardly brushed my teeth, then I pulled on my shoes and left my cabin for the first time in weeks.

Luckily, no one was around the immediate vicinity, so I didn't have to deal with anyone just yet. I self-consciously adjusted the bandages around my stump arm. I took a deep breath and walked slowly towards the dining pavilion. When I finally entered the dining pavilion, a sudden hush fell over the whole group. It lasted only a second before Jocelyn yelled out, "Oy, all of you! Back to eating, nothing to see!"

They did as she said. I passed by the Hermes table as I walked to my own. "Thanks Joce," I mumbled.

She shot me a thumbs up and mumbled back, "Nice to see you out and about."

I finally made it over to the Poseidon table and sat down. Suddenly a plate was set in front of me. I glanced up. It was Mike. He smiled at me. "Thanks for joining us," he said quietly.

"Yeah," Katherine said. "We've missed having you at meals."

"Can I sit here?" asked a familiar voice. I glanced up. It was Matt. His hair had grown back out, but he was much as I remembered him. He didn't even have a tattoo yet. The tablet hanging around his neck indicated he was still _probatio._

I smiled. "Of course. You are a descendent of Poseidon, after all."

Matt smiled back and sat down next to me. "So Camp Half-Blood is pretty cool," he said. "But Camp Jupiter is way better."

"As if," I retorted.

"Well you'll just have to come visit Camp Jupiter and see for yourself how much better it is," Matt said.

"Those sound like fighting words, kid," Mike said.

"Yeah, you better watch it," Katherine added. "You might be Elizabeth's brother, but that doesn't mean we'll go easy on you."

For the first time in weeks, I actually felt happy. Matt didn't even mention the fight we'd had before he left, and no one said anything about my arm. I just sat through dinner, chatting and laughing with my friends. Sierra came over to say hi, too, at which point Matt awkwardly got up and went over to the Athena table. "What was that about?" I asked.

"Oh, uh," Sierra said awkwardly, "he sorta asked me out on a date."

I spat out my juice. "He did what now?!"

Sierra nodded. "Yeah… I uh… I said no."

"Oh," I said. "Well that's awkward."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sierra agreed. "Especially since I'm his centurion now."

"You're a centurion now?!" I exclaimed.

Sierra nodded. "After Tony became Praetor, he sponsored me as the new centurion of the fifth cohort. Anyway, I've been trying to smooth things over with Matt, but it's pretty awkward between us right now."

"Give it time," I assured her. "Matt will get over it."

"How long has he had a crush on me?" Sierra asked.

"As long as I can remember," I admitted. "Sorry I didn't tell you. I felt like it was Matt's business to share and not mine."

"It's fine," Sierra said quickly. She glanced over her shoulder, back at the Zeus table where Gus was picking at his food and staring at his plate. I felt a twinge of something like guilt. "I hear you and my brother kissed."

I blushed a bit. "Uh, yeah…"

"I also hear you haven't spoken to him since you got back," Sierra said. "What going on with you two?"

I shrugged. "It's complicated. I… I don't know. I just… don't feel very worthy of his affections…"

Sierra frowned. "I'm sorry you feel that way. Augustus is crazy about you, you know."

* * *

Over the next few weeks I started spending more and more time out of my cabin. It started with just going to meal times, then I started visiting Fort Stoll up in the woods to hang out with Jocelyn and Theo. Finally, I started going to the arena. I only went when I knew I could be alone, but I started going every evening to practice lefty. I got better doing things one handed. Still, some days were better than others. Some days I was so crippled by depression that I was barely able to move. And I still avoided Augustus like the plague.

The last week of July I was practicing in the arena one evening when I got a couple of visitors. I had just clumsily beheaded one of the practice dummies when Jake and Theo walked in. "Hey Elizabeth," Theo called.

I glanced over. Jake and Theo? Not a pairing I usually saw. I noticed that Jake kept glancing over at Theo, which made me raise an eyebrow. "Hey guys," I said. I went to raise my right hand in greeting, which I still did every once and awhile. I cursed to myself. "What's up?" I said aloud.

"We wanted to run something by you," Jake said. "It's uh… a little complicated."

"I'm pretty smart," I replied. "What is it?"

Jake and Theo glanced at each other. "Well, Elizabeth," Jake said, "what if I told you there was a way you could get your right arm back?"

My breath caught. _Don't be foolish_ , a small voice said. _Will said the arm was severed more than just physically._ "I'd say you're crazy," I said aloud.

"And normally you'd be right," Jake said, raising his hands. "But that was before I took the case. You see, I'm something of an expert on robotics technology. I want to try something new. As far as I'm aware, it's never been done before. But if it works…"

"Where are you going with this?" I asked.

"Have you ever seen Star Wars?" Jake asked. I nodded. "Well you know how Luke Skywalker has a robotic hand?" he continued. "I think I can make _you_ a robotic arm."

My mouth dropped open. "Wh- what?"

"I've looked over his plans," Theo said. "I think it'll work."

"Theo's my medical advisor for this project," Jake said. "He's been… really helpful." Jake coughed awkwardly. Something was up. "Anyway, I really think Theo and I could do it, if you want to try."

I looked over at Theo. He nodded. "It's definitely doable, Elizabeth," he said. "Jake's a genius. I've seen the plans. And I'll be there the entire time."

It still seemed too good to be true, and I definitely wasn't about to get my hopes up, but I nodded. "Alright, let's try it."

* * *

Two days later, I lay on an operating table in Bunker 9, coming to after the operation. I moaned. "Easy there," a voice said. I glanced to my left. Theo was standing there, smiling. "You might still be a little out of it from the anesthesia. How do you feel?"

"Alive," I groaned. I glanced down at my right. There was no arm, just a silver ring attached to the end of my stump. I stared at it for a bit. "So… the arm just attaches to this ring?"

"That's right," Jake said as he walked into the room, holding something wrapped in a black cloth. "We're going to attach the arm now. Just wanted to do this bit while you were conscious so I could make sure it was calibrated right."

I took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Jake set the black package down on a metal table. Slowly he undid the wrappings. There, on the table, was my new arm. It was made of innumerable overlapping celestial bronze panels. Otherwise, it looked exactly like a normal arm. At the end of it was a silver circle to match the one on the end of my stump arm. The one on the celestial bronze arm had several cylindrical pins, no doubt to insert into my stump arm, though I couldn't see the slots for them. It was impossible to see them at that angle.

Jake lifted the metal arm. Very slowly he placed it against the metal ring on my stump. There was a loud click, a hiss of air, and suddenly pins and needles erupted all along my new arm. I yelped in surprise. Suddenly the pins and needles turned to pain. My yelp turned into a scream. But I was feeling something in my new arm. It worked. Tears jumped to my eyes, but I wasn't sure if it was from pain or surprise or, frankly, joy. Joy that I was feeling something again.

"Abort, it's hurting her!" Theo shouted.

"Hang on just a second longer!" Jake yelled. "It just has to stabilize."

And as quickly as the pain started, it stopped. My breath caught. I continued to sob, and I knew it was from joy. I had an arm again. Theo hugged me tight, Jake put a hand on my shoulder. After a few minutes, Jake asked, "Any more pain?"

"No," I sniffled.

"Alright," Jake said. "I want to put you through a couple exercises, make sure everything is working properly." I nodded.

Theo backed up, smiling. "Jake, you're incredible." Jake blushed slightly. "Just uh… trying to help my friend." My eyes were locked on my new arm. It didn't feel quite the same as a normal arm, but it did feel. I couldn't believe it. I still wasn't whole, but I had a new arm. I was back in the game.

"Did you hear me?" Jake asked.

I started. "Uh, no… sorry, I was just…"

"It's fine," Jake said. "Like I said, I just want to run you through a couple of tests, make sure everything is working right. Can you clench and unclench your left hand four times?"

"My left hand?"

Jake nodded. I did as he said. He typed a couple of things into his phone. "Alright," he said. "Now do the same with your right hand."

I focused on my right hand, but nothing happened. I growled and almost yelled in frustration. It hadn't worked. It was too good to be true.

"Don't think about it," Jake said. "Just do it. You're concentrating too hard. It should just work like a normal hand." I took a deep breath and tried to do what Jake said. It worked. My right hand clenched and unclenched four times. I let out my breath. Jake let out a whoop of celebration. "Now try lifting your right and left arm at the same time. Raise them up so that they're level with your shoulder."

I did what he said. There was a very short delayed reaction, but it worked. The metal arm didn't even feel heavier. Jake clapped. "It worked! You've got an arm again! I just want to run a couple last tests, make sure all your senses are working, but we can continue with those tomorrow. I think you deserve a break, and to celebrate."

I almost cried again. "Thank you so much, Jake. And you, too, Theo. Thank you for helping him."

Theo smiled. "Hey, you're one of my best friends. Of course I wanted to help."

"Just a couple of quick warnings before you leave," Jake said. "Be careful for a little while. You may not be able to gage how much force you're using accurately. Your right arm is a lot stronger now. It is made of metal, after all. Related to that, you shouldn't sleep with the arm on, at least not for the first couple nights."

"How do I take it off?" I asked.

"You see that small rectangle on the silver ring? That's a fingerprint scanner. My thumb print and your thumb print are both registered. You just scan your thumb and the arm will detach. My thumb is registered so I can do maintenance and updates as needed."

I smiled again. I was so much happier than I'd been just a couple hours ago. "Come on, guys, let's go to dinner!"

* * *

I threw myself into practice. I practiced non-stop with my sword. Every day my new hand felt more normal. Jake had me come by every day for more tests to make sure that my new arm was working up to specs. Still, there was one thing that hadn't returned to normal: my friendship with Gus. I still avoided him. I had been going through so many different emotions the past weeks that I didn't know what to feel about him anymore. I still really liked him, but I wasn't sure I wanted to be with him. Still, I felt guilty for ignoring him. He kept trying to talk to me, but I'd always come up with some excuse and leave. "You can't avoid him forever," Jocelyn said one day as we played video games at Fort Stoll.

I cursed as she got a headshot on me and killed my character. I accidentally smashed the right side of the controller in frustration. Jocelyn cursed. "Oh, come on. That's the third one, Elizabeth. Either stop crushing controllers or get better at this game."

"Sorry," I said shortly. Jocelyn paused the game and grabbed me another new controller. She resumed the game and I addressed what she'd said, "And I know I can't avoid Gus forever. I just… I just don't know what to do about all this."

"You like him, don't you?" Jocelyn asked.

"Well, yeah," I said, blushing slightly.

"And you enjoyed kissing him?"

"Yeah," I said shortly. Jocelyn got me with another headshot. I cursed, but I managed not to smash yet another controller.

"Then go out with him."

"It's not…" I sighed. "I've just been so confused emotionally, you know?"

Jocelyn sighed. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I felt that way for a while after… well, after I got here." I shot Jocelyn a weird look. We'd known each other for more than a year, and yet she was still very secretive about her past. I'd pieced together some of it, but there were still some gaps. Even Theo still didn't know everything about her past. "Anyway," Jocelyn continued, "you should at least tell him you need some time to figure things out. You owe him that much."

I sighed. "Yeah, probably." We were silent as we both focused on the screen. After a few minutes, I spoke up again, "Everything's gonna be different next year, isn't it?"

"Everyone knows about Gaius now," Jocelyn agreed. "And we're officially at war with his demititans. So yeah, things'll be different. But one thing is gonna be the same."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"I'll still be able to whoop your ass at this game," Jocelyn said with a laugh.

* * *

I finally went to talk to Gus the last day of camp. He was getting in some last minute practice in the arena. "Hey, Gus!" I called. Gus almost jumped out of his skin. He dropped his sword in surprise.

I laughed as I made my way over to him. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

He coughed awkwardly. "It's uh… it's fine. You didn't scare me."

I rolled my eyes. "Right," I said sarcastically. I shifted on my feet uncomfortably, trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to say.

Gus beat me to it, "Look, Elizabeth, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. Let's just forget it happened and go back to being friends."

Guilt washed over me. "No," I said quickly. "I don't _want_ to forget about the kiss. And we're still friends. It's just… things have been really complicated for me recently. I've been going through such a roller coaster of emotions this summer and I wasn't sure… I didn't know how to handle my feelings for you."

"You… you do have feelings for me?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I do, doofus." I kissed him on the cheek. It was the most I was comfortable with right then, and I think Gus understood that, because he didn't try to kiss me back, on the cheek or otherwise. "It's just…" I continued. "I don't know if I really want to _be_ with you right now. I kinda want to focus on myself."

Gus nodded slowly, but I could see the frown on his face. "That's completely understandable," he said. "You should take some time for yourself."

I frowned, too. Still, my heart was beating rather quickly. I didn't _want_ to leave things back at the status quo. I _did_ want to be more than friends, but at the same time I didn't. _Ugh, feelings are confusing_. I cleared my throat. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to turn down a date. _A_ date. If you ask me out on one, and it goes well… Well maybe there can be a second date."

Gus looked up at me. I could almost see a spark in his eyes. He opened his mouth, no doubt to ask me on a date, but I put my left pointer finger to his lips. "But don't ask me today," I said. "Try tomorrow, when we're back in the City."

Gus smiled, and lowered my hand with his own. "Alright, I'll talk to you then."

I smiled, too. "I look forward to it. Now if you'll excuse me, I better go finish packing. My parents will be here in an hour."

* * *

I hadn't had dreams (except for my reoccurring nightmare about the highway) for weeks, so I was slightly surprised that when I fell asleep in my own bed, back in the City, I dreamt. I was walking down a long, dimly lit hallway, alongside Eliana, dressed in armor, and Gaius. I stared at him with loathing.

"Do you honestly think Drake is equipped for this mission?" Eliana asked.

Gaius nodded. "His brute strength is exactly what's needed for this assignment."

"I disagree," Eliana said. "A mission like his requires finesse and intelligence. The man is as dumb as a pile of bricks."

"You sell Drake short," Gaius said. "And anyway, I'm not sending him down there to negotiate with her. I've just sent him to do some preliminary research. The monsters down there obey only one master. Even our titan blood can't influence them there. I want to know what's down there before I commit more forces to this operation. He's the perfect man for scoping out how dangerous the monsters are."

"But that's the trick isn't it?" Eliana asked. "Doesn't it change every time? What's the point of recon?"

"Oh we can't hope Drake comes back with a map or anything of that nature," Gaius replied. "But we can judge just how volatile this New Labyrinth is. And once we know that, we'll know how volatile its master is."

* * *

 **AN: And that's the end of Elizabeth Jackson book 2! I'll see you guys tomorrow night with an Author's Note update, including some hints for book 3. See you then!**


	21. Author's Note: Holidays & Book 3 Info

**Update: Holiday Season 2015-16 and Elizabeth Jackson 3**

 **Hello one and all to my update. Here I'll be letting you know what's going on for the next couple months, as well as a release date and some preliminary information about the next Elizabeth Jackson book, but before I get into all of that, I wanted to start by saying thank you. I know I say thank you every chapter, but I wouldn't say it so often if I didn't mean it. I really do appreciate all of the support I've gotten over the course of these first two books. It's really given me the drive to keep writing, despite having to balance writing this with my school work. So thank you all so much. Every review, every follow, every favorite, and every view means a lot to me.**

 **Okay enough of that. You guys are probably wondering when you can expect the next Elizabeth Jackson book. I'm sorry to say that there is going to be a bit of a wait. Over the course of this one, Elizabeth Jackson and the Missing Prophecy, I've had quite the challenge keeping up with both this story and my schoolwork. I wasn't able to keep as far ahead of you guys as I would have liked, so I felt the crunch for some chapters. Partially this is because of how short a break I took between books 1 and 2, but combined with classes starting back up, it really compounded the problem. So I'm going to take some more time between books 2 and 3 in order to get farther ahead. Therefore, you can expect the third book to premiere on February 2** **nd** **, 2016. That's just a little more than two months. Now that doesn't mean I'll be completely inactive between books, but I'll get to that in a little bit. First, I'll give you guys some tidbits of information about book 3:**

 **-Jocelyn and Theo will return to prominence**

 **-Elizabeth with visit Camp Jupiter**

 **-We'll finally meet one of the Zhang kids**

 **-Matt Jackson will have his largest role yet**

 **-Both Nico di Angelo and Thalia Grace will return**

 **-One of my favorite features from the original series, the Labyrinth, will return, though the new one made by Pasiphae in House of Hades proves to be very different from the old one in some important ways**

 **-Elizabeth will still be dealing with the emotional impact of losing her arm**

 **-Elizabeth's style is going to be quite different**

 **-The gang will meet at least one god that none of the Seven ever met**

 **-There will be at least one death**

 **-And finally, the title of book 3 will be "Elizabeth Jackson and the Magician's Maze"**

 **Again, you can expect to see book 3 on February 2** **nd** **. I am sorry about the wait, but I do need the time to get myself in a good spot for putting the story out. Twice a week uploads will continue unless something comes up, but I will let you guys know, either in advance, or by putting up a temporary author's note if there's not going to be a second chapter for the week.**

 **Now, as I said, I won't be completely inactive during the break between the two books. I'm proud to announce that I will be putting out several things this Holiday Season! There are a couple of different things you can expect:**

 **-Starting on December 13** **th** **, I will be publishing a new fic titled "Jason Grace and the True King's Sword." This story will be twelve chapters long, and it will be** _ **daily**_ **. Yes, that's right, daily. My short-ish Jason Grace story will run from December 13** **th** **to December 24** **th** **, when the last chapter will be posted. So look out for that!**

 **-On Christmas, I'll be posting a new one-shot to my one-shot collection, "Untold Stories." The new one-shot will be titled A Very Jackson Christmas. It will follow up directly from my Jason Grace story, but (obviously) is going to be a Christmas story.**

 **-Starting on January 1** **st** **, I will be uploading a new one-shot collection specifically focusing on characters and events from my Elizabeth Jackson stories. The first one-shot will be about Elizabeth herself, and will occur between book 2 and book 3.**

 **-You guys will have the power to choose another character for me to write a one-shot about in the Elizabeth Jackson one-shot collection. One my profile is a poll, which lists several of my OCs. Go and vote on the poll, because whoever wins will get a one-shot on January 15** **th** **. Losers may still get a one-shot eventually, but the winner of the poll will get priority.**

 **Okay, that's all the updates I have for you guys. I would recommend that if you aren't already following my profile, you go ahead and do so. That way you don't have to remember all those dates I just mentioned, hahaha. Anyway, you guys are great, and I'll see you in December. DFTBA!**


	22. Christmas Surprise!

**AN: Merry Christmas everyone! Or for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, Merry Random Couple of Days in December! I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season. So far my Holiday Season upload schedule is going well. Later tonight, the last chapter of my Jason Grace story will go up, so if you've been following that, look forward to it. Either tomorrow or possibly Saturday depending on what time allows, I will be uploading a one-shot titled "A Very Jackson Christmas" onto my "Untold Stories" collection, and I hope you enjoy it!**

 **But I'm not here tonight to give you an update on what I've been uploading. I've come to give you an update on the third Elizabeth Jackson book, which will premiere on February 2nd. You guys are such awesome readers, that I decided to give you a Christmas present: the first five hundred or so words of Chapter 1 of the next book! I hope you enjoy this very special sneak peek at the next book in the Elizabeth Jackson series, and look forward to "Elizabeth Jackson and the Magician's Maze" premiering on Tuesday, February 2nd! Merry Christmas and DFTBA!**

* * *

Chapter 1: My Favorite Jacket Gets Singed

My day was turning out like the start to a bad joke. _Did you hear the one about the laistrygonian, the Hyperborean, and the Earthborn?_ No? You haven't heard that one? Well trust me, it's no good.

I went flying, smashing through the front door of the worn down warehouse in Brooklyn the three unlikely roommates called home and tumbled to the street. I groaned as I climbed to my feet. That was really going to hurt in the morning. I brandished my celestial bronze knife – my third one in as many years – as the ugly six armed Earthborn came stomping into the street. He was so ugly, not even his momma could possible love that face. There was also the stench. His long hair was matted and unwashed, with bits of garbage in it. That combined with the fact that he had six armpits, and I was pretty sure he could scare off an entire stadium of diehard Yankees fans in the middle of a Yankees-Sox game.

"Hey big guy," I said, trying my best to breathe through my mouth. "What say we call this whole fight thing off, eh? Let bygones be bygones?"

The Earthborn responded by roaring at me, then scooping six huge chunks out of the sidewalk like they were made of mud. What few mortals were out and about on this particular side street ran off screaming. As usual, I vaguely wondered what they saw through the Mist. Maybe they saw a burly guy with pies. That had happened before.

The monster threw his rocks at me, one at a time. Stupid really, since that gave me time to dodge them. I rolled, ducked, and dived out of the way of the first five, but unfortunately, my last roll brought me right into the path of the sixth boulder. There was no way to dodge it. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I dropped my knife and held my gloved right fist out in front of me. The chunk of cement shattered against my hand, ripping up the glove, and spraying me and the pavement with dust and tiny chunks of cement.

"Son of a bitch!" I swore loudly, temporarily blinded by the pain of smashing the chunk of sidewalk.

The monster used my distraction to his advantage and lifted me up in all six hands, squeezing me like a vice. And, of course, I'd just dropped my knife a few seconds before. The Earthborn laughed stupidly. I had only a few moments before he literally squeezed the life out of me, at which point I could only assume he'd use me for jam, since that was about the consistency my corpse would be. Luckily, my right hand, whilst in unbelievable pain, was loose.

I pulled off the damaged leather glove with my teeth, revealing my celestial bronze right hand. I cocked back the metal fist and punched the Earthborn hard in the face. He burst apart into mud, and I dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

"Why," I panted, looking accusingly at my metal hand, "in the name – of Poseidon's – sweaty underpants – did Jake make – you able – to feel pain?" It didn't respond. I flexed my fingers to make sure they were still working, then scooped up my knife.

I turned back towards the warehouse. "Now where are the other two roommates?" I wondered aloud.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed that! Once again, the third Elizabeth Jackson book will come out on February 2nd. Also, if you haven't already, go vote in the poll on my profile. Your votes will help determine which OC from Elizabeth Jackson, besides Elizabeth, will get a January 15th one-shot in my upcoming Elizabeth Jackson One-Shot collection. Once again, Merry Christmas or Merry Random Couple of Days in December, and I'll see you guys soon enough!**


	23. Book 3 is Live

**Final Author's Update for this book**

 **Hey guys! Book 3 is now live (or should be live shortly – idk how the whole server thing works) so go check it out! Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support, and I hope to see you all in Elizabeth Jackson and the Magician's Maze!**


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